The Dead Games
by Blood Dahlia
Summary: Reid's niece, Eon, comes to live with him after living with her abusive mother. Almost as soon as she settles in, her and her new friends are kidnapped by a killer who makes them participate in a deadly game. Will the team make it to them in time...?
1. Chapter 1

Just a lil' sumthin' sumthin' I decided to do lolz :P I originally started it for a friend, who's OBSESSED on Criminal Minds.

So, here we go~~~~

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><p>Chapter 1<p>

"I think Reid's up to something."

Emily Prentiss blinked a couple of times and looked up at Jennifer "JJ" Jareau, who had just come up and was now leaning against the other's desk with a frown furrowing her brows.

"What do you mean by that?" Emily asked, finishing off the report for their last case.

"Haven't you noticed?" JJ said, chucking her head at the direction of Spencer Reid's desk. He was currently having a whispered conversation on his cell phone, a small smile toying on his face as he scribbled something on a report. "The whispered conversations? Checking his phone every few minutes?"

"It sounds like someone has a girlfriend," Derek Morgan chimed in, eavesdropping on the conversation.

"Our baby Reid?" Penelope Garcia frowned, crossing her arms. "I think you've totally got it wrong, my dear Adonis. It's just too hard for my beauteous brain to understand. He's too sweet and innocent to date anyone."

"Come on," Emily said reasonably. "He's a grown man. It isn't that hard to believe that he has a love life."

"Who has a love life?" David Rossi said blankly, putting the pen he had borrowed from Emily back on her desk.

"Reid," JJ and Garcia said in unison.

"You _think _he does," Morgan corrected with a chuckle, watching Reid as he smiled gently into the phone.

"I kinda wanna hack is phone," Garcia said compulsively, staring intently at Reid's phone.

"Don't do that," Rossi reprimanded gently. "Hotch sure as hell wouldn't be happy about that-you know how he feels about you hacking into things without his permission. If you're so desperate to know, then just ask him yourself."

"But it's so much more fun to gossip," JJ pouted sarcastically.

"Why are you all sitting around, not doing your work?" Aaron Hotchner said as he came up, wearing his trademark frown. "Did you sneak so many files into Reid's stack that you don't have any to do for yourself? I'll gladly fix that if it's your problem..."

"We're trying to figure out if Reid has a girlfriend or not," Garcia told him cheerily, inspecting her long, fake nails.

"I highly doubt that," Hotch muttered under his breath.

"Hm, I wonder what kind of girl he'd go for," Emily hummed, resting her head in her hand with a dreamy expression.

"I'm just surprised he'd actually have time out of work to meet someone," Morgan grinned. "He practically lives here."

"Shh!" JJ hissed. "Here he comes!"

Reid had hung up on his phone and was now coming over, his messenger bag slung over his shoulder and a happy look on his face. "Hey," he said with a curious frown. "What's going on?"

"Nothing," Garcia said innocently, "just gossiping over the latest celebrity news."

"Oh, okay," he said. "Um, I think I'm gonna call it a day."

Everyone froze, and Morgan choked on his coffee out of shock. He quickly grabbed a napkin and wiped off the coffee that had spilled onto his chest. He threw them away when they were too soaked to help anymore, and Garcia shoved some more at him without looking, her eyes fixed on Reid.

"You're taking the rest of the day off?" Hotch said in disbelief. He couldn't remember a time when Reid had taken off before work was done. It had to be something incredibly important for this to happen. "What's going on?"

"I just have to go to the airport," he said elusively. "To...pick up a friend."

"A female friend?" Garcia pressed, the interest on her face evident.

"Perhaps," Reid said, a smile toying on his lips. He turned to his boss. "I hope that's okay, sir?"

"Of course," Hotch managed, still confused on what exactly was going on. "Uh, be safe."

Reid smiled and nodded. Waving a hand slightly in good-bye, he started out of the office. There was an obvious bounce in his step, and he was even whistling a joyful tune from between his teeth. His team watched him until he disappeared out of the building.

"That was so...creepy," Emily said, blinking rapidly.

"I was so close to getting answers!" Garcia wailed, shaking her fists in the air as she leaned against Emily's desk. "Damn you, Reid! You're too good at getting away sometimes!"

"You'll get your answers tomorrow, Baby Girl," Morgan said, going back over to his desk. "You'll just have to be patient until then." Garcia frowned and chucked a fluffy pink pen at his head, missing.

"He's obviously smitten," Emily observed, going to her desk. Even though they weren't supposed to do it, she was profiling him. "Maybe a past lover?" She grabbed a stack of files off of her desk and slipped them into Reid's pile-a small revenge.

"Maybe someone he met while visiting his mother out in Las Vegas," Garcia said, chewing the end of a pencil. "He has to have gone to some casinos while he was there. It's Vegas, for God's sake.

"No profiling," Rossi stated, mockingly chastising her. Hotch minutely rolled his eyes.

"I think I'm gonna go stalk him," JJ said abruptly. At the unapproving glare sent her way by Hotch, she added hastily, "For safety's sake. I want to make sure that everything's alright with him...and stuff."

"I kind of want to go too," Rossi admitted with a sheepish grin.

Hotch rolled his eyes and groaned. "My team's horrible," he growled. "No, you cannot stalk your teammate."

"You're no fun," Garcia whined, pouting her lips. "Come on, what harm could it do?"

"It could destroy the trust he has between his team," Hotch said in a monotone, "and decrease his work performance. You know how he already is with relationships between individuals. This could make him pull away from us all."

"Damn logic," Rossi muttered begrudgingly under his breath. He hated it when Hotch made logical arguments to a situation.

"Fine," Emily said, smiling mischievously. Hotch sent her a warning glare, and she shrugged innocently. Everyone slowly and reluctantly returned to their desks, going back to their work.

Meanwhile, Reid couldn't stop grinning as he drove towards the airport. He'd been waiting for this moment for a long, long time. He could barely sleep the night before out of pure anticipation. He had made sure the room was perfectly in order, and that there wasn't a speck of dust on any surface of the house.

He pulled into the waiting lane and turned his car off. He stepped out and leaned against the car, anxiously tucking at his sweater vest to make sure it was in the proper place. He wanted nothing to go wrong when she arrived. It would be horrible if they're first few moments together ended badly.

The automatic slid doors opened and an average height fifteen-year-old girl stepped out with two bags. She had light-brown hair that came just past her shoulders and startling, icy blue eyes. Her skin was dark, and her features were sharp. She was dressed in a black Hoodie and plain jeans that covered long legs. Black-rimmed glasses covered her eyes, and a purple hat finished the look.

Reid's face lit up at the sight of her. "Eon," he said in greeting. She smiled timidly at him and hugged him around the neck.

"Hi, Uncle Reid," she said in a small voice that had a Swedish accent, pulling back. "It is great to see you again."

Reid kissed her forehead and took the bags from her, opening the trunk. "How was your flight?" he asked as he loaded them into the back of the car. The door came sliding back down easily when he was done.

"Uneventful," she replied. "There was some mild turbulence, but nothing major."

"Good, good," he said easily. He jerked forward and opened the passenger door for Eon. She was uncertain for a second, then smiled and thanked him as she carefully slid into the worn seat.

"How is work going?" Eon asked, staring absently out at the passing scenery.

"Oh, same old, same old," he replied. "Lots of serial killers, stalkers, and schizophrenics." Eon's lips upturned into a smile and a gentle laugh escaped.

"Sounds very boring," she said sarcastically.

Reid's mouth twitched into his own smile. "Is Dahlia still doing okay?" he asked, referring to his older sister and Eon's mother. He hadn't seen her for a few years, and hadn't even talked to her for the same amount of time.

Eon froze. Her fists tightened instinctively, and her gaze lowered slightly. "Meh, she's still the same," she said, forcing her voice to stay smooth and cheerful.

Of course, Reid noticed this. It didn't take a profiler to see that she was distressed about something. He knew better then to press the topic, though. It was only her first day here, and he didn't want her to think that he would be questioning her the whole trip.

Sighing, Reid pushed it out of his thoughts and turned down the street.

"This is your room," Spencer said as he opened the room.

The room was medium-sized, with a large bay window and plain brick walls. The floor was made out of wood, and a circular blue rug covered part of it. A single bed was pushed up against the wall in the corner, and a chest was against the other wall. A door led into a small closet, and in the center was a brand new art easel that Reid had bought especially for her.

"Do you like it?" Reid asked nervously. He'd always been an uncertain, skittish man, and this was making even more so.

"It's amazing," Eon breathed, setting her bag down on the bed and staring at the room in wonder. "I couldn't have asked for anything better!" She stopped at the easel and rubbed it with her hand reverently. She turned to Reid and smiled widely at him. "Really, Uncle Reid, this is too much."

"Not at all," he replied easily, awkwardly putting his arm around her shoulders in a brief one-armed hug. "I hope everything's alright?"

"Better than alright," Eon enthused, returning the hug with one of her arms. After a couple of seconds, he let her go and stood back, scratching the back of his head in an embarrassed gesture.

"I'll let you settle in," Reid said. "And I'll start making dinner. Does spaghetti work for you?"

"Sounds good," she replied. "I will not take long, I promise." He nodded his head and went into the small, yet nice, kitchen. He started boiling a pot of water and set out a jar of tomato sauce.

His cellphone started ringing, his work ringtone. Sighing, he put it on speaker as he continued cooking. "Reid."

"_Reid_," Hotch said on the other end. "_There's a new case we need your opinion on. _"

"Go ahead," he replied as he pulled out garlic bread also from the fridge.

"_Police outside of Des Moines, Iowa were alerted of a potential abuse case,_" JJ calmly said, joining the conversation. "_But there wasn't a bruise on the victim's body._"

"248,300 women were abused last year," Reid stated calmly as he set the oven. "Only 40% of those women actually seek medical treatment after the initial attack-maybe it was something that happened in the past, and was brought back up by a painful experience. How did her partner act when questioned?"

"_The husband's obviously an Alpha male. He refused to admit that he had ever laid a hand on his wife_," Emily joined in.

"Domestic abuse doesn't have to necessarily be physical," Reid said thoughtfully, running a hand through his hair as he stuck the bread in the oven and put the spaghetti into the now boiling water. "A large margin of it can be all psychological-little things, like taking away her right to go out with friends, or as seriously as calling her demeaning names and insulting her on a regular basis."

"_Do a psychological eval on the wife,_" Reid heard Hotch tell someone in the background. "_Question the husband about how he treats her at home, and do the same to the victim._" In a louder tone, he addressed Reid with, "_Thank you for the opinion._"

"_Is there anyone there with you_?" Garcia blurted.

Reid raised an eyebrow, a smile quirking his lips as he pulled the bread out. "I thought this was a strictly business call," he pointed out.

"_He doesn't deny it_," Emily crowed on the other end.

"Yeah, I'm hanging up now," Reid chuckled, rolling his eyes.

"_Not until you explain in explicit detail about who's with you_!" Emily ordered, giggling maniacally.

"_Is she European_?" JJ asked. "_I bet she is. Oh-h, probably from Spain! You seem like the type who would go for a Latino girl_."

"Why are you-wait where'd you get that?" he asked blankly.

"_I have my ways, O Genius One,_" JJ giggled maniacally.

"_I think you're spending too much time with Garcia_," Rossi's voice said in the background. There was a noise of something hitting another thing, followed by a yelp. "_Geez, Garcia, I wasn't trying to offend you or anything._"

"_Think before you speak, O Chubby One_," Garcia mocked, and Reid swore he could hear her sticking out her tongue at him.

"Definitely hanging up," Reid said loudly as Eon came in. He ended the call just as Garcia and JJ let out annoyed shrieks. "Hey, sweetie," he greeted pleasantly to her. "Is everything all set?"

"Yes," she said. She gestured at the phone. "Was that a work call?"

"Uh, yeah," he said as got out a strainer for the noodles. "They just needed a quick consultation. You'll meet them sometime in the near future." Eon nodded and sat down at the small kitchen table, messing with the bracelets on her wrists.

"What are they like?" she asked.

"Very..." he searched for a word. "Very different, I believe is the best way to explain them." She raised a questioning eyebrow. "You'll understand when you meet them." Chuckling slightly, she nodded.

"Can I put on some music?" Eon asked, pointing at the stereo in the living room. After he consented, she flipped through the CDs until she found one that she liked and popped it in. K-OS started to gently thrum through the stereo, filling the room.

"School starts next Monday," Reid offered in the silence that followed, dumping the boiling water and its contents into the strainer. "Don't worry, I bought all the supplies for you."

"Cool," Eon said, getting up to set out the plates. "Thank you so much for doing that for me. You did not have to do it."

Reid smiled and patted her head, embarrassed. "It, um, wasn't a problem. I just didn't want you to be stuck with nothing on your first day at a new school. It's already going to be hard enough that you're going to school in the middle of the year, and everyone's going to be older than you..." He knew that he was babbling, but he couldn't stop. _Why am I so nervous_?

Eon laughed, setting the plates and forks down on the table. "It was kind of you," she said once he was done. "So thank you again."

He clamped his mouth shut, stopping the stream of nonsense. He put the pasta and sauce onto a plate before setting it in the middle of the table, along with the garlic bread. Eon filled up two glasses of water, setting one down by both plates. They both sat down, and started to put the food onto their plates.

"This is good," Eon complimented around a mouthful of pasta.

"I could have cooked it longer," Reid frowned, licking the corner of his mouth. "It's too hard for my liking."

"That's what she said," Eon couldn't help but mutter. Reid choked on a mouthful of food and quickly swallowed.

"You did not just make a 'that's what she said' joke," Reid laughed, pinching the bridge of his nose in mock shame. "Of all the jokes at your teenage fingertips, you had to choose perhaps the most overused one."

"Yes," she smiled cheekily, putting a hand up to her mouth, as she giggled, "I could not help it If you are going to live with me, you are going to have to get used to such jokes and not set yourself up, Uncle Reid."

Reid laughed, and was about to reply when the doorbell rang. He was confused-who was at the door? He wasn't expecting anyone. He wiped his mouth with his napkin and stood up. "Be right back," he muttered, before hurrying to the front door.

"Hello-" he stopped in mid-sentence when he saw Morgan and Rossi standing there, smiling winningly. "What do you two want?" he asked blandly.

"That's no way to treat friends," Morgan said, pouting sarcastically.

Reid sighed and leaned against the doorframe, making sure to block out the view of the inside of his house. "Well, I'm just wondering why you two showed up at my door-wait, how do you two even know where I live?"

"Garcia's records," Rossi replied easily. He tried to sneak a glance around Reid's shoulder, but the younger man hurriedly intercepted it. "Do ya have someone else here?"

"No," he lied, his voice too loud and his reply to fast. It didn't take a profiler to know he was lying.

"Maybe..." Morgan wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. "Female company?"

"Look," Reid groaned, "I really don't have time for this, and I'm not in the best of moods for this type of delinquency. So could you both kindly go away and do...whatever it was you were doing before you decided to ruin my evening?"

"Touchy, are we?" Rossi asked, craning a neck to try and sneak a glance into the apartment.

"Are we interrupting a date?" Morgan asked, doing the same. "The music and soft lighting seem very romantic...I wouldn't peg you as the type to know how to romanticize a woman properly."

"This conversation is done," Reid interrupted quickly, awkwardly moving his body so they couldn't see inside. "I'll see you two at work tomorrow. Bye!" He quickly closed the door before the conversation could go any farther.

"Sorry," Reid sighed, sitting back down at the table. "It was just some more work issues."

"It is fine," Eon said, finishing off the last bite of her dinner. "Since you made dinner, I will do the dishes. No, no, I insist. I want to do them."

"Okay," Reid said, holding up his hands in defeat as he finished his food. "Do what you want-obviously you're not going to listen," he said with fake exasperation. Eon smiled winningly and turned the sink on, rolling up her sleeves.

The rest of the evening was spent by sitting in the living room, catching up and laughing. Around eleven they both called it a night and went into their rooms. Reid uncertainly made sure that she was comfortable, wondering if he should stay with her and talk or just leave. Eon answered that question for him by telling him a gentle goodnight.

Reid went to sleep soon after, feeling happy and satisfied with the day's events.

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><p>Soooo? Good? Bad? Absolutely fantabulous? Absolutely horrible? Please review and let me knowww~~ ^_^<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

lolyncut: ah! ok! Thank you for pointing that out :) I think I changed all of the 'Uncle Reid's to 'Uncle Spencer's ^-^

rya13: thank you sooooo much! :D

On with the story!

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><p>"Really," Eon protested as Reid drove to work, "you do not have to take me with you to work."<p>

Reid had decided to take Eon to work that morning. It felt wrong to leave her home alone on her first day in a new place. Going on a whim, he had decided to take her with him. She was dressed in another black Hoodie and cargo pants, with her hair hiding the majority of her face. She had a latte in her hands-Reid had stopped briefly at a coffee shop to get one of his many morning coffees.

"I can't just leave you sitting at home with nothing to do," Reid argued.

"Yes you can!"

Reid sighed and ran his hand through his hair, stopping at a stoplight. "It doesn't feel right to me."

"Your coworkers will just think of me as a distraction," she continued, flipping through the radio station when the current station went to commercial. "I do not want you to get in trouble because of me."

"They won't care," Reid snorted. "They're used to distractions. If they want you to go away or find you annoying-trust me, they won't-I'll just set you up with Garcia in her lair. She'll like you."

"Lair?" Eon questioned, wrinkling her nose slightly to show she was thinking.

"It's what we call her office," he explained, turning the car right. "She's our resident computer technical analyst-maybe she can show you a couple of new hacking tricks."

"That would be fun," Eon replied. "Wait, stop trying to change the subject! I'm almost certain your boss is not going to be happy about you taking me here."

"Y'know what," Reid said, pulling out his phone. "I'm going to prove you wrong." He speed-dialed Hotch's phone, waiting impatiently for his boss to answer. "Hotch, it's Reid. I have a question."

"Go ahead," Hotch said, returning a report to Morgan's waiting hands with a nod of approval. Morgan asked him silently who it was, and he mouthed 'Reid.' He put it on speaker so they could both hear him.

"You wouldn't mind if-hey, leave it to that song! And no, I'm not going to stop the call." Morgan and Hotch raised eyebrows as they listened to Reid talk to whoever was in the car with him. "Anyway," he huffed.

"Who's with you?" Hotch asked.

"About that," Reid said, biting his lip as he dodged Eon as she tried to grab the phone. "Is it okay if I bring someone to work with me? Just for today, I swear; I know it's kind of sudden, but it's a tad bit of a family emergency."

"No it's not!" Eon cried out, but Reid shushed her before she could finish speaking.

"And who is this person, exactly?" Hotch asked, a half-smile forming on his lips.

"A family member who's currently in my care," Reid said, holding back laughter as Eon tried to desperately get the phone. "Eon, I swear you're going to make me crash this car if you keep trying to get the phone!"

"I'm still here, you know," Hotch said loudly in the phone.

"Sorry, yes," Reid said, returning his attention back to Hotch on the other line. "I gotta go-I'm almost there."

"Reid-"

"Bye!"

"What was that about?" Morgan chuckled, watching Hotch put his cellphone back into his pocket.

"I'm as lost as you are," Hotch said, checking his watch. "We'll find out soon, though. Reid said he'll be here soon, and then you can bombard him with all the questions you want-just make sure he does his work."

"Of course," Morgan said innocently. He didn't think he could keep Reid away from his work even if he tried.

"I still think-" Eon began again.

"What's done is done," Reid said, his voice carrying a certain finality to it. "We're already here. It would be a waste of time and gas for me to go all the way back home and drop you off. And I'd preferably not be late for work, thank you very much."

Eon fiddled with a few strands of her hair. "You are _sure_ this is okay?" she asked for the umpteenth time. "I do not want to be a bother."

Reid stopped the car and smiled at her. "It's perfectly fine," he said, ruffling her hair. She ran a hand through it when he was done, looking embarrassed. "You won't be a bother; they'll love you. I promise."

"Okay," she said with an uncertain smile.

They both stepped out of the car. Eon grabbed her uncle's bag for him, but he quickly grabbed it before she could walk with it. She rolled her eyes in mock annoyance, and he smirked at her triumphantly.

"This is a really nice place," Eon said, glancing around the semi-empty office.

"Thanks," he said, setting his messenger bag on his desk. "Here, uh, I have to talk to my boss quickly. Just...stay here for a couple of seconds, alright?"

"Okay, Uncle Spencer," she said, sitting down in the chair.

Reid knocked twice on Hotch's door, and entered when his boss told him to. Hotch was sitting at his desk, organizing the papers in front of him. A white mug of coffee was by his hand, and he looked like he should still be asleep.

"Good morning, sir," Reid greeted, closing the door behind him.

"Morning," Hotch replied, setting down the file he had in his hands and turning his full attention to the genius. "What can I do for you?"

"I, ah, just wanted to thank you again for letting me bring my niece to work today," Reid said.

"So _that's _who you were talking about," Hotch said, standing up and going over to the window. He watched Eon as she twirled the chair from side to side, drawing on a sketchbook. "Why is she here?"

"It's a long story," Reid admitted, tugging at the bottom of his shirt out of nervousness. "I won't go into too much detail, but the family she was staying with were forced to, ah, relinquish their guardianship of her to me. I'm still not sure if this will be a permanent stay, or a temporary one, but I'll try to keep you posted."

Hotch nodded slowly. "Will these be a recurring situation?" he asked gruffly, referring to her coming with him.

"No," he assured. "Since it was her first day here, I didn't want to leave her alone at my apartment. Next Monday she, ah, starts school, but until then she'll probably have to come with me. I, ah, is this okay?"

"As long as it doesn't affect your work performance, I'll allow it," Hotch told him calmly. He turned back to his desk. "But what are you going to do when we have to go away on cases? It's highly unethical to leave her alone so much. Most of the crime scenes we go-in fact, all of them-will be too graphic for her to see. And her school, she's going to have to miss it quite a lot if she goes with you."

"Already thought of that, sir," Reid stated. "My neighbor has agreed to watch over her while I'm away. And she's used to crime scenes. Her...her father was killed in front of her, by a...close friend."

Hotch's eyebrows shot up, eyes flashing in surprise. "That's horrible," he said. "How did it happen?"

"If it's alright with you, sir," Reid said tightly, extremely uncomfortable, "I'd prefer not to talk about that. It's still an extremely tender topic between her and me."

Hotch nodded, understanding. He knew from first-hand experience what it was like to lose a loved one. "What's her name?"

"Um, her name's Eon."

The corner of his mouth twitched. "Unusual name," he commented.

"Well, my sister's quite the character," Reid chuckled dryly. "She-ah, great." He glared out the window at Eon. Morgan and Emily were currently talking to her, and she had a harassed and nervous look on her face. "The team found her. I'd better go help her before they frighten her."

Hotch's lips upturned at the corners slightly. "Good luck with that," he said absently, and went back to doing his work.

While Reid had gone to talk to Hotch, Eon had decided that drawing would be the best way to occupy her time. As a thank-you gift for letting her stay with him, she was going to paint her uncle a picture. Obviously she couldn't bring the paints into his office, but at least she could get down some ideas of what it should be up.

She was just starting to get into her drawing, when her pencil flipped out of her hands and landed at her feet. Sighing, Eon got off of the chair and started searching for the lost pencil, feeling blindly for it.

"You got some answerin' to do, Reid!"

Eon squeaked at the voice above her and banged her head on the underside of the desk. A different voice, this time a deep male, teased, "Careful there, pretty boy. You'll mess up your hair."

She quickly stumbled up to her feet and met the surprised looks of Morgan and Emily.

"Well, hello there, cutie," Emily said, smiling at her and sitting on the desk. "What's your name?"

"U-um, Eon," she stuttered nervously in response, taking a step back.

"That's such a pretty name!" Emily cooed, grinning at her. She crossed her legs and leaned closer to the girl.

"I-I'm sorry," Eon said uncomfortably. "Am I in your way? Would you like me to move?"

"Not at all," Morgan said. "You don't have to be scared." Eon's shoulders relaxed a smidge, but she was still unsure of what to do or say. "So," he continued casually. "Why're you at our genius's desk? In fact, how'd a little girl like you get in here without security caring?"

"I-I," she stuttered, taking another uncertain step back. "U-Uncle Spencer took me to work-"

"_Uncle Spencer_?" JJ cut in, joining the conversation abruptly.

"They do look similar," Emily observed, tilting her head to the side as she sized up the girl.

"I didn't know he had any siblings!" JJ whined, putting her hands on her hips. "I thought he was an only child! How many siblings does he have, cutie? Tell me!"

"H-he has two older sisters and two bröder-I mean, brothers," Eon mumbled, brushing her hair behind her ear for the third time in the past five minutes. She didn't like it when people focused so much on her; it make her feel more self-conscious then ever.

"I'm so gonna kill him for not telling me," JJ said pouting.

"Why are you here, sweets?" Morgan addressed Eon, giving the girl a warm, friendly smile.

"U-Uncle Spencer didn't want to leave me home alone on my first day here," she explained in a whisper. "S-so he brought me with him to work."

"Whoa, wait," Emily said. "Why are you with him in the first place?"

"I am staying with him until my mother can divorce my stepfather," Eon said, sliding her foot back in another step.

"I can't believe he didn't tell us!" JJ exploded. "I mean, it's pretty damn big that he's taking care of a little girl now! Er, pardon the language." Eon shrugged, not particularly caring about the use of profanity.

"That's why Reid was being so secretive last night," Morgan chuckled, shaking his head in amusement. Eon guessed that he had been one of the two visitors who had been at the door.

"We didn't introduce ourselves, did we?" Emily said. She held out her hand. "I'm Agent Emily Prentiss. This is Agent Jennifer Jareau, and this is Agent Derek Morgan. We're Reid's teammates."

"It is a pleasure to meet you all," Eon said with a smile, revealing perfect white teeth. She shook all of their hands and stood awkwardly, pulling her sleeves down farther.

"Garcia's gonna _freak_," JJ snickered, organizing a few files on Reid's desk. "She's probably going to try and stab Reid or something."

"Here comes the little sneak himself," Morgan said, watching Reid as he came up.

"Sorry, it took so long," he said to Eon with a smile. He directed a playful glare towards his coworkers. "Are you three having fun messing with my poor little niece?"

"She's too cute to be related to you," Emily laughed, joking.

"Why didn't you tell us she was coming?" JJ complained, crossing her arms. "Did you think we'd make a big deal out of it?" Reid gave her a look. "Okay, fine; yes, we would've." Emily snickered, earning a sharp elbow in the ribs, effectively stopping it.

"It was sort of a last minute thing," Reid said, putting the files Emily and JJ had moved back in their proper places. "She's going to be staying with me for awhile, until my sister takes her back."

"Oh, fun," JJ grinned, moving the papers yet again just to mess with the young man. "Are you sure you can handle a teenage girl all by yourself?"

"Stop doing that," Reid snapped. "It's a bother. And I'm perfectly capable of doing exactly that. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to finish getting ready and introduce Eon to Garcia and Rossi before everyone else arrives."

He placed a hand on Eon's shoulder and steered her towards Garcia's lair. Emily and JJ shrugged at each other before going back to their own desks, Morgan chuckling as he did the same.

Rossi was talking to an agent about a new case in his office, sipping at his coffee. "...And make sure you get that turned in right away," he ordered. The agent nodded rapidly and went scurrying off to do his superior's bidding. He passed Eon and Reid on his way out, but barely even noticed them.

"Rossi?" Reid asked, tapping lightly on the open door to grab the older agent's attention. Rossi grunted in response and then looked up, his gaze softening when it fell on Eon.

"Hello," he smiled at the shy girl. "Who's this?"

"This is my niece, Eon," Reid said, watching them shake hands. "She's living with me, and came to work with me today."

"Agent David Rossi," he smiled openly at her, shaking her hand firmly yet carefully.

"It is a pleasure to meet you," Eon whispered in her small voice, smiling gently as she pulled her hand back.

"Reid," JJ said as she entered. She looked more frazzled than before, and had an armload of files and papers. "We need your help to file things. An agent accidentally, well, messed them all up when she was drunk." Reid started to stutter something, but she grabbed his arm and dragged him away to do what was needed.

"Can you look after her, Rossi-" Reid managed to get in before he was fully out of the room.

"It looks like we have awhile to get to know each other," Rossi commented. Eon smiled and laughed lightly.

"How long have you been here?" Rossi asked when they were alone.

"I just came in yesterday afternoon," she said, clasping her hands behind her back politely as she spoke. "I came from Quebec, where I was going to school."

"Beautiful place, Quebec," Rossi said appreciatively. He offering her the seat across from him.. "What grade are you in? Eighth? Ninth?" He reached blindly for his coffee mug and took a long drink from it.

"Oh, I am already in college," Eon told him matter-of-factly, smiling sweetly. He nearly choked on his coffee, and she frowned, leaning forward looking concerned. "Are you alright, Mister Rossi?"

"I'm alright," he gasped, wiping away a few droplets of coffee from his glossy desk. "So, ah, I guess genius runs in the family?" he said jokingly.

Eon giggled, ducking her head in embarassment. "I am not nearly as smart as Uncle Spencer," she mumbled. "It is so kind of you to even start to compare me to him."

"He is one of a kind," Rossi amended, grinning widely. "Can I get you anything to drink? A coffee, water, soda?"

"Thank you, no," she declined. He noticed that she was eyeing the Rubix Cube that was currently being used as a paperweight on the corner of his desk. Rossi didn't even know why he kept it lying around-it just made him irritated and annoyed.

"Here, kiddo," Rossi said, throwing it at her. She fumbled with it in the air a few times before getting a firm grasp on it. "Have at it, I don't want it anymore."

Eon beamed at him. "Thank you, Mister Rossi!" she cooed.

Rossi sat back in his chair, pleased with himself as he got back to work. Obviously, he thought that the Rubik's Cube would keep her entertained for a few hours. It always did for him, anyways.

"Done."

He blinked a couple of times and shifted his gazeto see a completed Rubik's Cube in front of him. He did a double take. It had barely been ten seconds! Eon had her hands between her knees and was swaying absently from side to side.

"How did you do that?" he asked in astonishment.

"It is easy," she responded blankly. "You start to see patterns when you play, and then you just keep practicing those patterns until you get faster and faster. Will you mix it up again for me? Please?"

Rossi grabbed it and mixed the colors up for three minutes. He slapped it down in front of her and stated, "Here you go." He leaned back and put his hands behind his head, watching her closely.

Eon's hands moved in a blur as soon as she picked it up. The pieces shifted rapidly, one color in a certain spot and then in a complete different spot. Within a matter of seconds, it was done yet again, and she set it down on the table, smiling her trademark sweet smile at the flabbergasted old man.

"You and your uncle..." Sighing, he got back to work.

"Are you good at the Rubik's Cube, Mister Rossi?" she asked, her head resting against the desk and toying with the puzzle cube.

"Just Rossi, please," he said, not looking up. "And no. I'm absolutely terrible."

"Then I will have to teach you sometime," Eon grinned cheekily. Rossi gave her a playful annoyed glare.

"Garcia's gonna tackle you when she meets you," he snickered.

"Who is this Garcia?" she questioned, tilting her head and wrinkling her nose in confusion. "I have heard her name quite a bit, but have not met her yet. Is she nice?"

"Reid hasn't introduced you to Garcia?" he asked incredulously, his hand pausing from writing. "Oh-h-h, the tech goddess is most certainly not gonna be happy to at our little genius about that..."

"May I meet her now?" Eon asked, eager than ever to meet the eccentric woman.

"Might as well," Rossi shrugged, shimmying out from between his chair and desk. "Here, I'll walk you over to her lair." She thanked him and they headed over to the technical analyst's office.

Garcia was at her desk, humming a happy tune and tapping away at the keyboard. Her hair was styled up in two ponytails that had shockingly pink and purple streaks running through it, with a few fine braids thrown in for fun. Her nails were long and black, with lacy spiderweb patterns on them, and she wore a brown jacket with a neon blue undershirt.

"Garcia?" Rossi asked, knocking on the door.

"What brings you into my Lair of Technology, O Wise and Knowledgeable one?" she asked without turning around from her screen. "Not that I'm complaining, but try and bring some lovely toys and goodies next time."

"Language, Garce!" he said in a high voice. "There are young ears present."

Garcia stopped typing and frowned, spinning around in her chair. "What do you mean there's young ears-Aw-w-w-w!" Her gaze fell on Eon, who was in the doorframe. "And who might this bouquet of cuteness be?"

"Eon," Reid said, pushing the young girl in front of him encouragingly. "None other then our genius's niece, who's staying with him."

Garcia glided out of her chair and pulled Eon into a back-breaking hug, stroking the girl's spiky hair. "I thought I sensed the genius in her!" she laughed loudly. She pulled Eon at arms length and glanced at her up and down. "Hell, if her skin was just lighter she'd look exactly like a girl version of our pretty boy!"

"It is very nice to meet you, Miss Garcia," Eon said, gulping in the air hungrily. It was hard to breath when you were being forced into a hug by a woman stronger than a gorilla.

Garcia fanned herself with her hand. "Woo!" she cooed, pretending to swoon. "A girl after my own heart! Drop the formalities, honey bee. I'm now your Fairy Godmother Garcia, or if you wanna play it simple, Auntie Garcia. Can you be a godmother and an aunt? I dunno, but now you can!"

"Auntie Garcia," Eon tried the name out, rolling it around in her mouth. She smiled timidly. "Okay."

"JJ dragged Reid off somewhere, so could you look after her until he gets free?" Rossi asked, watching the two with great amusement.

"It would be my pleasure," Garcia said grandly, bowing. She twirled around to face Eon. "Sit your little tush down wherever you want, honey bee. I've got video games galore, puzzles, paper and pencils, and codes to crack. Which would you like to do first, my lovely?"

"I'll let you two get at it," Rossi said. "Have fun." He left the girls to get to know each other.

* * *

><p>Ta-da!<p>

I'll put up the next part tomorrow. Just so u all kno where it's headed-the next few chapters will be mostly humor (Eon starts college) and then it turns horror :)

Until next time~


	3. Chapter 3

lolyncut: the drama starts very soon! In, like, two more chapters, and then it gets all horror-y and all that bloody goodness ^_^

pipinheart: thank u for reading and reviewing! It means alot to me :)

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><p>"I am <em>so<em> sorry it took so long," Reid babbled as he threw open Garcia's lair's door. They were both eating Chinese takeout, and noodles were hanging from Garcia's mouth. "JJ and Emily both started piling on the work, and I couldn't say no."

"It's fine," Eon muffled out from a mouthful of rice. "Really."

"I took care of her, my boy genius," Garcia said brightly, wiping her mouth with a napkin. "We were just enjoying some positively delectable takeout. Got you some, too, but don't tell anyone else. I am so not becoming this team's food source." Reid shrugged and pulled up a chair, taking the offered carton.

"Your niece is awesome, by the way," Garcia told him brightly. Eon flushed at the compliment.

"How so?" Reid asked, stealing a piece of Eon's vegetarian stirfry.

"Her music taste deserves an A plus," she said. She set the food on a clear place on her desk, and started ticking off the bands on her manicured fingers. "ETF, FIR, deadmau5, Skrillex..."

"Those mean absolutely nothing to me," Reid cut in, laughing and holding his hands up. "I don't even know what genre of music they are, and honestly don't really care." Garcia stuck her tongue out at him and continued to eat her food again.

Garcia's phone started buzzing next to her, and she grabbed it, reading the text message. "Damn it," she groaned, standing up. "Sorry, I have to go help Rossi with his computer. Again. I swear, he doesn't know a power cord from a freakin' phone charger..." Muttering about his limited knowledge of technology she stalked out of the room.

"So are you having fun?" he asked Eon, making himself comfortable in the chair.

"Very much so," she enthused. "Miss Garcia is so kind and funny. She gave me many things to do, and did not treat me like a child. I really have been having fun with her. I will admit it now: I am glad you brought me with you to work today."

"Inga problem, godis," he grinned, speaking in Swedish. No problem, sweet. "_Now seriously. How are you doing?_"

Eon laughed quietly, kicking him gently in the shin. "_I'm serious, Uncle Spencer_," she said dramatically, rolling her eyes. "_I'm really having fun. Everyone's extremely nice to me, and makes me feel comfortable._"

Reid put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it comfortingly. "_I'm glad that they're doing all this for you. They're practically..._" He frowned and furrowed his eyebrows, switching back to English. "Crap, how do you say 'family?'"

"Familj," she giggled. "You need to work on your Swedish, Uncle."

"Pretty boy speaks Swedish?" Morgan grunted, leaning in the doorframe. "Ya learn something new every day. And some of that better be for me." Without asking for permission, he waltzed in and sat in Garcia's chair, taking her abandoned Chinese food.

"Yup, I learned it a few years ago," Reid said. "My mom's originally from there, and it's Eon's native language, so why not." Morgan thought for a few seconds about it, then shrugged and ate a large mouthful of Garcia's food.

"I didn't know you're Swedish," Morgan said blankly.

Reid shrugged. "You never asked."

"...Touche," he stated, narrowing his eyes and pursing his lips to make Eon giggle.

Garcia came back a few minutes later, and scowled at the remains of her lunch before plopping herself down in a chair. Reid and Morgan started to discuss their previous case, which involved a murderer who would cut out the eyes of each of his victims while they were still alive. Needless to say, when they found the murderer in his house, it was filled with jars of pickled eyes that made JJ and a few cops start to dry heave.

"God, shut up!" Garcia finally burst. "Eating here! I don't want to think about eating pickled body parts!"

"Some pickled body parts are good. Take this for example: pickled fish isn't that bad," Morgan said defensively. Garcia made a gagging sound in the back of her throat, miming choking and gagging.

"Pickled fish is disgusting," Eon said, wrinkling her nose cutely. "In Norway, they have pickled herring. I went there to visit some friends, and they practically shoved it down my throat." She shuddered at the memory and pushed what was left of her food away from her, appetite leaving abruptly.

All of their phones started buzzing at the same time. They all quickly check them, and groaned in annoyance.

"What is it?" Eon asked, tilting her head to the side.

"A new case," Reid sighed as Morgan went to go tell Hotch they'd be there soon. "I'm sorry, Eon. I wanted to spend time with you today."

She waved a hand breezily, the corners of her lips curling into a small smile. "It is fine," she said. "I know your work is important, and I do not want to get in the way. I will keep myself entertained."

"You're sure?" Reid asked, frowning deeply.

"Go!" she urged with a chuckle.

"Bye-bye, honey bee," Garcia sang as she followed Reid out of the door, blowing her a kiss and a wink.

Eon's smile slowly faded as the door closed. She let her eyelids droop slightly so her black lashes cast dark shadows on her cheeks. She stared at the center of the floor and let her thoughts wander reluctantly back to past events. Her hand tightened into a fist reflexively, and she managed to force it open just before her sharp nails broke the skin.

No. She wouldn't wallow in such thoughts. She was just starting to be happy again, and the last thing she wanted to do was be dragged back down into the deep depression she had been suffering for most of her life. This was supposed to be a new start-a new family, a new school, new friends...

Sighing deeply, Eon turned one of the computer monitors that Garcia had deemed appropriate for her use, and selected an extremely violent game. She needed something to get rid of stress, and what better then to lop off the head of zombies?

* * *

><p>"19 year old Courtney Harrington was found outside of her house with exactly thirteen stabs in her torso and strangle marks around her neck. She's the fifth victim in the area to be found in the past month."<p>

The screen flickered to a young, pierced, Goth teenage girl. She had white blond hair and coal black eyes. Next to that picture was one of her body, stabbed almost beyond the point of recognition. Dried mud caked her skin, and her open eyes had a glassy tint to them.

Reid examined the stack of pictures that were set in front of him. "No signs of physical assault?" he asked JJ, who, as usual, was in charge of the meeting. "It's highly common for female victims to be raped or molested."

"No signs of sexual assault, which leads us to think it's a girl unsub," JJ said.

"Probably in her late twenties, early thirties," Rossi said absently, studying the bodies closely.

"All of the bodies were drenched purposefully in mud and sand," Emily pointed out. "How they weren't taken care off indicates that the unsub might have had a rough childhood, and feels like others should feel her pain."

"Well?" Aaron said. "Are we going to take this case, or leave it?"

"I think we should take it," Reid advised. "The killings are become more and more frequent, and it's obvious the unsub takes care of hiding their tracks, making it near impossible for just the local police to find them."

"If the body count was higher, perhaps," Rossi interjected.

"So we're just going to wait for it to rise?" Morgan said with a frown. "By that time the killer could have easily moved on to a new town, or killed a dozen more people."

"Well, what about Reid and Eon?" Emily asked, turning everyone's attention to the young genius.

"Hm?" Reid looked up, not really paying much attention.

"Are you comfortable with leaving Honey Bee all alone when she's barely been here a week?" Garcia pressed.

"I'm not necessarily comfortable with it," he said, "but like I said earlier, I won't let my personal life interfere with my work life. My landlady's already agreed to look after her while I'm gone. So, she won't be _all alone_, Garcia." He felt a bit offended that she had spoken to him like he didn't know how to take care of his niece.

Garcia stuck her tongue out at him childishly as Hotch spoke. "Alright, get your go-bags ready. You all have exactly two hours before the plane leaves."

Eon looked up happily as Garcia and Spencer walked in. "How did it go?" she asked, pausing her game.

"Bad news, honey bee," Garcia said as she sat down in her usual chair. "We have a case."

"Ah." Eon's shoulders fell a fraction, but she didn't stop smiling. "Well, that is okay. It was bound to end up happening sooner or later. At least I'll finally get to meet the landlady. Her name is Miss Greenwynter, is it not?"

"Hõger," Spencer said, switching to Swedish. Right. He ruffled her hair gently. "_Here, let's get you home and settled in. I want to make sure your safe with Ms. Greenwynter before I leave, okay?_"

"Okej," she smiled brightly, and started gathering her things into the bag.

"You're sexy when you speak Swedish, G-man," Garcia said. Spencer whirled around and stared at her with a mixture of embarrassment and surprise. His face turned bright red and he muttered something unintelligible. Eon stifled her laughter and flung her bag over one of her slim shoulder.

"Ready, Uncle?" Eon asked, reaching for his hand. She tugged at it lightly, leading him towards the door. "I hope to see you soon, Garcia," she said to the technical analyst, giving her a small bow.

"Aw, I'll come and visit you, honey bee!" she chirped, blowing a kiss at Eon. The teenage girl giggled and left the room, the door closing with a barely audible click.

They navigated their way through the office until they made it to the front doors. Spencer slipped in front of her and opened the door for Eon, pushing her lightly into the cold air with his other hand. "I only have two hours," he urged lightly. "I don't want to leave you lost or uncertain of anything in the home."

"You're so sweet!" Morgan called from across the parking in a sickly sweet voice. "Such a kind, caring guardian."

"Shut up!" Reid called good-naturedly back to him. Eon shook her head as she went to the backseat of the black Prius Vibe and threw her bag into it. Spencer continued to playfully banter back and forth with Morgan, until Spencer realized he had better hurry.

"Wait," she said, stopping him as he headed to the front seat. He gave her a questioning glance. "Can I drive?" she asked, holding her hands up in front of her face in a pleading gesture. "Please?"

"Nnn," he said, tilting his head back and forth as he thought. When Eon tried to grab the keys, he raised his arm. She gave him a glare, and went up on her toes to try and get them. Since he was a good half foot taller than her, he easily avoided her groping hands.

"Just let her drive," Rossi chuckled as he passed. His car was next to Spencer's, so he passed the scene on his way to it.

"I don't want my car to be wrecked," Reid replied sourly. Rossi shrugged and climbed into his car. He started the engine and left the parking lot, waving a hand at Spencer and Eon as he passed.

"I passed my license test in Quebec with a perfect score," she reminded him, "and I already had it transferred to an American one!"

"It's a permit," he corrected in a monotone.

"Close enough!" she argued. "Please? I won't crash your car. I promise!"

They stared at each other heatedly before Spencer reluctantly handed the keys over to Eon. The girl smiled widely before skipping happily to the front seat and climbing into it. Spencer did the same, less enthusiastically.

"Be careful pulling out into the street," Reid warned. "It's a bit busy in this section of the road, so take it slow."

"Yes, Uncle Spencer," she replied with a small smile, starting the car.

True to her word, she slowly and smoothly pulled out of the parking lot. She drove just barely at the speed limit, taking in all of her uncle's advice with open ears and making sure to tweak her driving when necessary.

"_Takk _for letting me drive," Eon said, her voice quiet yet content as she successfully parked the car in Reid's parking spot in the apartment complex's garage.

"No problem," Reid replied. And it wasn't a lie-she was a surprisingly good driver, and didn't even come close to crashing his car. Maybe he would let her drive more often, he reasoned.

"Ms. Greenwynter's a wonderful lady," Reid said as they climbed the stairs to their floor. "She's a tad bit serious at first, but once she warms up to you she'll be your friend forever. A few things, though: don't mention her dead husband, and, unless you want to get your ear talked off, her two sons. Also, try to be as neat as possible. She won't say it out loud, but she doesn't like messes."

The whole time Reid was talking, Eon listened attentively with open ears, absorbing all of the information. The last thing she wanted to do was offend or piss off the lady she was going to be spending so much time with.

Reid opened his apartment door and stepped inside. He told Eon to get a few things to keep her entertained while he rummaged around in the closet for his go-bag. He hurriedly walked to his room, and filled the bag with a week's worth of clothes and socks, along with a few necessary toiletries.

When he walked back into the kitchen, Eon was waiting for him patiently with a book, her sketchbook and a few colored pencils. She had brushed her hair a few times to push it down and look more presentable.

"Have everything you need?" he asked. "You won't need any clothes-remember, you'll still be sleeping here, but staying with her during the day."

"Okay," she said, nodding her head in understanding.

They were about to leave the apartment when Reid froze. "Ah. I forgot something." Eon looked at him curiously as he went into the kitchen and started rifling through drawers.

When he came back, he was holding a small, silver key. "This is the key to the apartment," he said, handing it to Eon. "I had a copy made for you."

"Thank you," she said gratefully, tucking it into her back pocket.

Miss Katerina Greenwynter's apartment was on the floor below Reid's. He knocked on the door, and waited patiently for the elderly lady to answer the door.

She had snow-white hair that was pulled into a tight bun. Wrinkles were deeply engraved into her skin, and black eyes sparkled on her face. Spectacles sat on the edge of her sharp nose, and she wore a loose-fitting dress with a detailed lace shawl over her shoulders.

"Hello, Spencer," she said in a scratchy voice with a thick Romanian accent. "How are you this afternoon?"

"I'm good, Miss Greenwynter," he said with a polite smile. He put an arm around Eon's slim shoulders. "I'm so sorry to do this to you on such short notice, but would you watch over Eon for me? Just for a week-"

"Of course, Spencer," she cut in. "I was already expecting this to happen." She turned and looked Eon up and down, sizing her up. The tips of Eon's ears turned pink, and she self-consciously grabbed the edge of her Hoodie. "This is your daughter, yes?" she asked.

"Uh, my niece," he corrected. "Eon."

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Greenwynter," Eon said, holding out her hand. Ms. Greenwynter raised an eyebrow at the hand and refused to shake it.

"All right," she said reluctantly. "Come in, girl."

Reid pulled Eon into a tight hug. "Be good, okay?" he said, stroking her hair. "Remember: school starts tomorrow at 8:00. The address is on the fridge, along with emergency money and numbers. Don't be afraid to call me for anything, okay? Really. I won't hesitate to answer it, even if you just want to talk."

"Okay," she said, pulling away. She gave him a reassuring smile. "Love you, Uncle Spencer."

He gave her a tender smile and replied, "I love you, too, honey."

She waved to him as he walked down the hallway. "Säkra resor," Eon called after him. Good travels.

Reid smiled fleetingly at her before disappearing around the corner. When he was gone, she straightened her back and took a deep breath. Gathering her nerve, she entered Ms. Greenwynter's apartment.

It was a very homely place, with old furniture, and only a few rooms. An antique carpet covered the floor, and black and white pictures of family members were on the wall.

"Sit on the couch," Ms. Greenwynter ordered, hobbling over to the kitchen. "I have some tea on the stove. I hope you like Earl Grey."

"That is fine," Eon said, sitting on the couch. She sunk into it, and placed her things right next to her. "You have a very lovely house."

Ms. Greenwynter grunted in response. "Yes, well, don't touch anything. I don't want to have to clean up broken glass."

Indignation coursed through Eon, but she kept it in check. She let the insult slide, and tried another approach at conversation. "Um, is your accent Romanian?"

"What does it matter to you?" the old woman called back sharply.

"_I spent a summer in Bucharest a few years back,_" Eon replied with impeccable Romanian. "_Forgive me, but my Romanian is not good._"

Ms. Greenwynter poked her head out and looked at her in shock. "_You speak Romanian?_" she asked slowly. Eon nodded her head shyly. Ms. Greenwynter yet again grunted and went back into the kitchen. "_Well, then I'm most certainly not going to go easy on you, then_," she said in a challenging tone.

Sighing reflexively, Eon sunk lower into the couch. She may have just dug her own grave-she didn't speak great Romanian. She was just trying to make Ms. Greenwynter like her more, not compete with her!

It was going to be a long, long week.

* * *

><p>I might put up the next part tonight, just to keep it moving. I'll decide later hahaha :D<p>

Auf Wiedersehen~


	4. Chapter 4

ilovefalloutboy: omg! *glomps* thank youu! x3

lolyncut: I thought it would add a lil' drama if Reid didn't know that Ms. Greenwynter was so mean to Eon lol but maybe he'll find out later on. Haven't actually decided...^_^"

pipinheart: Eon's background will be revealed in later chapters, promise :) and so will Reid's siblings.

luvfredweasley1111: ah! Danke, danke, danke! :D

Thanks to everyone who favorited! n.n

**WARNING!: **This chapter contains a very small attempted rape scene close to the end. It's not graphic, and Eon's virginity stays in tact. (I feel soooo awkward about actually writing an attempted rape scene...plz go easy, it was my first one!)

Bahh it's getting late...I just got home from a party and as soon as I upload this im just gonna crash hahaha.

Onward to the next chapter!

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><p>Reid put the past pieces of information onto the whiteboard that him and his team had been given by the Portland Police Department a half an hour ago, when they had landed after a three hour flight. He stood back and studied the board, his mind racing through the list of victims and the information about them.<p>

Five victims. All of them women: Courtney Harrington, Hayley Laroux, Erin White and Lisa Oswald. Each had died with multiple stab wounds, and strangle marks. Different backgrounds, different jobs, different races... The only thing that linked the victims together were the stab wounds and the gender.

"It's a very wide range of victims," he said thoughtfully to JJ, who was sitting at the table behind him. He ran a hand absently through his hair. "Why were these women so special to the unsub...?"

"Perhaps it has to do with the families," JJ threw out. "Harrington's family should be here in a few minutes to be interrogated."

"Who's in charge of the interview?" Reid asked.

"Me and Emily," JJ replied, straightening a stack of papers in front of her. "I should probably go and get ready."

"Okay," he replied, more focused on the information then JJ.

"And call Eon, so she isn't just sitting there worrying about you."

"I will later," he said absently, still not fully paying attention. "After we get the press statement ready."

"That could take hours," JJ protested, looking out of the office window and into the main police office. "Besides, you shouldn't keep someone that cute waiting for you. Geez, didn't you know that?"

"Hm?" he asked, finally looking at her.

"You better have been paying attention," JJ said, pinching the bridge of her nose.

Reid gave her a sheepish smile as Hotch walked in with his trademark frown. "A new body's been found outside of town. Reid, I need you go with Morgan and Rossi and gather evidence from the scene."

"Yes, sir," he said, and grabbed his messenger bag. He was about to go out and meet with his two partners, but Hotch spoke up before he could.

"Oh, and Reid?" Reid stopped and turned around, looking at his boss expectantly. "Call your niece."

JJ snickered as Reid threw up his arms in defeat and stomped out of the room. JJ and Hotch shared amused looks. It was just too fun to mess with their little genius. JJ left the room with a friendly wave to her boss, files in hand, while Hotch called Garcia for more information on the victims.

Emily handed a tissue to Carla Harrington, who was crying profusely. They were sitting in a private office that the head of police had generously donated for the interview, since the others were being used.

The single mother took it gratefully and dabbed away the makeup stains off of her cheeks.

"I know it's hard, Mrs. Harrington-" JJ began.

"Ms. Harrington," she broke in with a loud sniff. "I divorced my husband over a decade ago."

"_Ms._ Harrington," JJ corrected herself patiently. "We have to ask a few questions about your daughter. Your answers may be able to help catch this killer before another family has to go through the same...ordeal as you and yours."

"Yes, of course," Ms. Harrington sniffed, wiping her nose roughly. "Anything-anything to help get this son of a bitch caught."

"Were you and your daughter having any relationship problems in the past months?" Emily asked, watching the grieving mother closely.

"Y-yes," Ms. Harrington sniffed noisily. "I-I wasn't happy with the college she chose. I thought that she was going to have trouble with the environment and the subject she wanted to minor in. We...we haven't talked in weeks. Oh God, if I'd only called her more often..." She burst into tears.

From the other side of the one-way glass, realization struck Hotch. "All of the victims have single mothers," he murmured out loud, crossing his arms as he examined JJ and Emily interrogate Ms. Harrington. "Perhaps the unsub's had trouble with losing a mother, or maternal figure. Maybe even abuse...?"

He brought out his cell phone and called Garcia. "Tell the rest of the team that we're looking for a killer who targets single mothers who are estranged from their daughters," he ordered the tech goddess.

"Right away, boss man," Garcia chirped.

Meanwhile, in the car, Reid had finally called Eon. He was sitting in the back of the SUV, with Morgan and Rossi in the front.

"_Hey, Eon_," he said when he heard the click on the other end. He easily switched to Swedish so the others couldn't understand what they were saying. He wanted at least some bit of privacy. "_How's it going_?"

"_Oh, it's okay_," she said brightly. "_I just got out of the shower. How was your flight? Is the case going okay?_"

"_The case is going_," he said. "_The flight wasn't interesting, I just played chess_."

"It's so weird hearing Swedish come from our Boy Genius," Morgan commented to Rossi.

The older man shrugged as he turned the car. "It doesn't really surprise me that he speaks another languages. With a photographic memory, he can probably pick it up like that." He snapped his fingers for emphasis.

"You know I can hear you, right?" Reid snapped at them, giving them each irritated glares.

Eon laughed. "_Is that Mr. Rossi and Mr. Morgan?_" she giggled.

Reid snorted derisively. "_Don't say 'Mr.' in front of their names. They're too annoying to have respect used on them_." As he said this, he smirked evilly at the two in the front seat.

"I can just tell from your expression that you're not saying anything good, Reid," Rossi chuckled.

"Who knew someone so dorky could look so evil," Morgan joked. Reid rolled his eyes, a half smile tugging at his lips.

"_Chess is a fun was to spend your time, anyways,_" Eon said thoughtfully.

"_Yeah,_" he said absently, not paying much attention. It had suddenly occurred to him how behind they were on the case. _There has to be something that we're missing..._

"_How's Ms. Greenwynter treating you_?" he asked, sitting up straighter. They had just pulled up at the crime scene, and Rossi was stepping out.

"_Ms. Greenwynter is so mean-_" Eon began enthusiastically, but Reid interrupted her.

"_Yeah, sorry, sweetie, but I have to go. We're at a crime scene_."

"_Oh_." Her voice dropped with disappointment. "_That's okay. Can I call you tonight-_-?"

"_Talk to you later. Bye, hon_!"

Eon blinked and looked at her cellphone. Her own uncle had just blown her off. She hadn't even been talking with him for two minutes before he had oh-so-abruptly hung up.

Pursing her lips, she chucked her phone lightly onto her bed before turning to the stereo in the corner. She had moved it up to her room, considering Spencer barely ever used it and she loved music with a fiery passion. She was studying for a major in music, after all.

Eon flipped through her iPod before blasting out Protest the Hero-angry music always made her feel better. She turned around and looked at the blank canvas in front of her on the easel.

"Let's see," she hummed to herself as she selected paints for her newest piece. She picked out a range of of cool colors and a large paint brush.

She dipped the brush into the first bucket and painted sloppily, letting out all of her frustration well into the night.

* * *

><p>The college was large and close to Spencer's apartment, making it easy for Eon to simply walk there. It was comprised of three main buildings, with numerous others, all made out of brick with modern styling. The cafeteria was halfway outside, and there was a park on one side of the campus.<p>

Eon examined her schedule closely before heading to her first class-Acting 101. The classroom was on the second level, and was brightly decorated with reds, yellows and oranges. There was a stage in the corner, and a teacher's desk next to it. Various props were scattered around the room, and almost all of the chairs in front of the stage were filled.

A tall, gorgeous woman was standing on the stage. She had golden hair that fell in waves to her shoulders, and tan skin. She wore a tight-fitting black dress with red-soled black shoes. She looked up expectantly as Eon walked in.

"Can I help you?" she asked in a sultry voice.

"Uh, y-yeah," Eon stuttered. "I'm-I'm the new student."

"Oh, right," she said, smacking her gum noisily. "Edna or something, right?"

"Eon," the girl corrected.

"Whatever," the teacher plowed on. "I'm Miss Hall, welcome to Acting 101, yadda, yadda, yadda." Miss Hall waved her hand dismissively. "I hate introductions. Go sit down and try to keep up."

The class snickered as Eon hurried to the open seat, face red. She set her binder in front of her and tried to make her body as small as possible.

"Right, so who knows what we were workin' on last time?" Miss Hall addressed the class. A brunette raised her hand.

"Pantomiming," she chirped.

"_Wrong_!" Miss Hall said. The girl frowned in surprise and slumped in her chair. "Dondae!"

"Uh, some angsty crap, right?" a dark-skinned boy said, smiling lopsidedly. Miss Hall glared at him harshly.

"We were taking about what happens when a prop is left on stage," Miss Hall said from around her teeth. "You'll all end up failing this class miserably if you don't shape up and actually try!"

Eon whimpered slightly, her muscles tense and her mind on edge. All of Miss Hall's yelling was starting to put her more on edge than she already was. Why was she screeching so much at pretty much nothing?

The rest of the class was made in the same fashion: lots of yelling, acting, and Miss Hall being blunt. After that, the next three classes-Guitar Class, Advanced Mathematics and Philosophy-it was Eon's break period. She found an empty lunch table in the cafeteria and pulled out her sketch book and phone.

Eon called Spencer's phone. He picked up on the fourth ring. "_Hi, Eon,_" he said, people talking in the background.

"_Hi, Uncle Spencer_," she said, forcing her voice to me cheery. She happily started speaking in Swedish, a small piece of familiarity that gave her comfort. "_I'm just in the middle of my break period, and I decided to call you_."

He was so distracted he didn't even try to speak Swedish. "_That's great, honey, but_-"

"Let me guess," Eon sighed, also using English. "Too busy to talk?"

"_I'm sorry_," he said regretfully. "_It's just this unsub is smart, and the bodies keep on popping up._"

"I understand," Eon said. "Call me when you can, okay?"

"Yes." The words had barely left Eon's mouth before he responded.

"I love you," she said, but he hung up before he could hear it.

Eon placed the phone next to her sketchbook, scowling. She picked up her pencil and flipped tersely to a blank page. She started the outline of a tree, and angrily started to shade it in. Her mind was so focused on this that she didn't notice the five students that came up.

"Whatcha drawin'?"

Eon yelped and turned her shocked gaze up to the group.

Dondae, the one from class, was sitting in the seat across from her. He had brown hair that was put into dreadlocks, and big, dark eyes. He wore a plain, fitting blue T-shirt with a black, unzipped Hoodie over it and jeans, with a guitar thrown over his shoulder.

The first girl-Eon didn't recognize her-had soft, brown eyes and sharp features. Her brown hair was pulled up into a ponytail, and she wore cargo pants with a graphic tee. A backpack was slung over her shoulder, and she was smiling openly.

The second girl-Mykaela-had wavy black hair that fell past her shoulders, with red and orange extensions. Her skin was dark, and she wore a revealing red shirt and low-cut jeans. Her dark eyes always seemed to have a scowl in them.

The second boy-Trip; he was in Eon's Guitar class-was tall and muscular, with tan skin and handsome features. He had a mop of curly brown hair and greenish-blue eyes. He wore a gray undershirt with a plaid shirt over it and black jeans.

Another boy was also there. He had blackish brown hair and gray eyes, with a bright smile. He was pale with gangly limbs, and wore a plain button-up shirt with cargo pants. He was obviously geeky, and sort of reminded Eon of Spencer. Him, along with the rest of the group, were carrying lunch trays.

"Hi!" the first girl said cheerily. She thrust out her hand. "I'm Becka."

"Uh, I'm Eon," she replied timidly, shaking the hand.

"We thought we'd come sit with you, since you're new and all," Dondae said as he settled into the chair.

"I'm Josh," the nerdy boy said, smiling in a friendly way. He waved and everyone took their all sat down at the table, the two girls on either side of her and the boys on the first girl's side.

"So, how are you liking the school so far?" Becka asked cheerily.

"Damn, just bombard her with questions, why don't you?" Mykaela said with a smirk, crossing her arms and glaring at Becka.

"I was just trying to be friendly, _Mykaela_," Becka said from around her teeth. "Maybe you should try it sometime."

Eon hunched her back as insults were flying between the two girls. She hated screaming, and having people around her. It wasn't settling well on her empty stomach, and she felt on the verge of a panic attack. She forced herself to take deep and even breaths-the last thing she wanted to do was have a panic attack on the very first day of college.

She felt a tap on her arm and she blinked a few times before looking up at Josh. He had an apologetic expression on his face.

"Sorry," he said. "They're always like this. You get used to it, I promise."

"Oh, it's okay," she said hurriedly, sitting up straighter. Mykaela and Becka were slowly starting to simmer down, but still sent glares flying at each other over the Swede's shoulders.

"So where ya from, Eon?" Trip asked, resting his head in his hands.

"I moved here from Canada," she said shyly, "but I am originally from Sweden."

"Oh-h! Exotic!" Josh smiled. Eon frowned slightly, trying to figure out if that was a compliment on an insult. She decided on simply ignoring it.

"You make everything so awkward, dude," Dondae sighed, rubbing his forehead. "Seriously."

"I didn't mean-" he began to protest, but Mykaela held up a well-manicured hand.

"I'm going to stop this train wreck before it even happens," she stated, smiling icily. "Keep your mouth shut, Josh, or you'll end up just burying a deeper hole for yourself to die in." Josh visibly paled, and he tightly closed his mouth.

Eon watched this exchange with interest, before letting out a tinkling laugh. She reached down under the table for her backpack, slipping her sketchbook into the open part. She knew she wasn't going to be able to concentrate on it with these people around.

"Lemme see your schedule," Trip said, holding out his hand. "I'll see if we have any classes together."

"Um, okay," Eon whispered nervously.

"Okay, cool," he said with a lopsided grin. "We have Chorus and Art together. Myka's also in our Art."

"Advanced Mathematics," Josh smiled triumphantly. He held up his hand, obviously meaning for Eon to high-five him. She looked at it oddly for a second before she started to reach out a tentative hand.

"Don't, don't touch his hand," Mykaela intercepted her, jerking the small hand back on the table. "You don't know where it's been." Josh started to sneer, but that turned into a whimper when Mykaela sent a piercing glare at him.

"Oh!" Becka piped up, smiling. "We have Study Hall and Philosophy! Yay!"

"Why you're taking such a high level class, I'll never know," Mykaela muttered under her breath. Becka shot her a glare, and Mykaela simply smiled at her easily, if a bit proudly. Eon choked on a laugh, biting her lip to keep it in.

"Don't encourage her!" Becka berated her playfully. "She's bad enough as it is as a roommate! Do you know what I have to deal with every night? I'm afraid that-"

"-she'll slit your throat and steal your purse," the boys finished for Becka in unison. Eon had a feeling they'd heard it a million times before.

"It's true!" Becka said, waving her arms to emphasize her point.

"Yes, well," Mykaela said airily, standing up with her empty tray in hand, "it's a good thing I don't keep a Swiss army knife in my dresser with my socks." Becka looked at the girl with growing horror as she waltzed away.

"Why does she not like you?" Eon asked Becka curiously.

"Myka doesn't like anyone," Becka sighed, eyebrows scrunching up. "It's a fact of nature. Like now we need oxygen to survive."

They chatted for the next hour, before it was time for them to go back to class.

"I'll walk you over to Creative Writing," Becka offered, smiling.

"No, I think I will," Mykaela intercepted easily, wrapping a loose arm around Eon's thin shoulders.

"Uh, I _said_ I would," Becka practically growled, glaring fiercely. Eon sighed heavily.

"Can't I just go by my—"

"No."

Dondae snickered as Eon was forced to stand between the bickering girls until they came to a decision.

"Sorry, girly," he said, giving her a two-fingered salute. "You got stuck with the short straw. See ya after school, maybe." He walked off, playing a few chords on his guitar.

Josh and Trip followed, shooting the distressed girl sympathetic looks before taking their leave. Eon watched the boys go enviously, eager to go to her next class.

The girls decided that they would both escort her to her next class. They both walked closely to her throughout the whole walk to the class, and Eon felt ready to sink into the floor by the end of the walk.

But she had to admit, it was nice to have kind friends…

* * *

><p>Almost a week had passed, and the next thing Eon knew it was Friday.<p>

Spencer was still gone on the case, but he made sure to call Eon every night. He tried to talk to her for as long as he could-he really could-but Eon couldn't help but feel lonely in the large loft all by herself. Ms. Greenwynter barely even spoke to her, and honestly the teenager didn't care. She wasn't a particularly hateful person, yet she despised the old woman.

To make up for the loneliness, her friends would come over, or invite her to the library with them. It was wonderful for Eon-she felt honestly like just another normal teenager.

Of course, that was all about to change.

Eon had just finished hip-hop class. She was sweaty, yet smiling happily. She had done wonderful, and the teacher had complimented her profusely.

She unlocked her locker and pulled out her regular clothes. She slipped off her sweaty, blue T-shirt and reached for her button-up, plain white blouse. Buttoning it up, she hummed a song that she'd learned in Guitar class.

A figure slipped up from behind her, going unnoticed by the distracted girl.

Abruptly, the figure lunged forward, slamming Eon into the lockers. She opened her mouth to scream, but a slender hand wrapped itself around her mouth, effectively muffling it. A cold, sharp object was pressed into Eon's neck, and she froze. It was a knife.

"Don't try to scream," a woman's voice growled into her ear huskily.

The hairs on the backs of Eon's neck stood on end as she was shoved onto her back on the cold, cement floor. Her thin wrists were held above her head with a surprisingly strong hand and she felt the cold knife on her neck disappear.

Eon didn't recognize the woman straddling her, but that was the least of her worries at the moment.

"Vänligen, nej, nej," she whimpered, tears started to prick the corners of her eyes.

The woman smiled wildly, running her free hand across Eon's dark cheek. "You're beautiful when you beg me in Swedish," she purred in a low voice. "Keep doing it. It turns me on."

A scream was ripped out of Eon's throat as her shirt was brutally torn open, buttons flying off of it and bouncing harmlessly on the ground. Eon squeezed her eyes shut tightly as hands groped at her chest and tugged at her hair. _This can't be happening, no, no, no, no..._

And then, just as soon as the weight had been pushed onto her, it was gone. Eon gasped in surprise and scrambled into a sitting position, back pressed uncomfortably hard against the bench. She held her shirt around and stared fearfully up at her savior.

It was a man, wearing all black and a ski mask. A few feet away, Eon's attacker was unconscious on the floor, blood dripping onto her forehead.

Eon flinched when a gloved hand tenderly stroke her cheek. She looked fearfully up into dark eyes, which was the only part of his face visible. She was surprised when she saw nothing but care and love. Who _was_ this? More importantly, _why was he wearing a ski mask and in the girls' locker room_?

"It's okay," he rumbled in a deep voice. "Don't worry, my love. I will protect you."

Warning sirens started screeching in Eon's head. She didn't know who this man was, and she was grateful for him for saving her, but something wasn't right.

Eon didn't hesitate. She quickly rushed up to her feet and went sprinting past him, ignoring his calls after her. All she wanted to do was get out of the locker room. It made her feel claustrophobic, like the walls were closing around her...

Shoving the door open with her shoulder, she ran blindly forward, eyes blurred with tears. A few people stared at her as she ran, though no one attempted to stop her. She didn't hear the man following her, and it made her so relieved she wanted to cry. But she held it in. She always held in her tears.

Something muscular stopped Eon from running. Yet another scream was torn from her throat, and she took a hurried step back, but warm arms wrapped around her, stopping her. Oh, God, she was going to be—

"Eon? Eon, what's wrong?"

Trip forced her to look into his eyes, worried and confused. Dondae was standing next to him with a blank expression, trying to process what he was seeing.

A long stream of Swedish came tumbling out of her mouth, her mind to muddled to translate it into English.

"Eon, we need you to speak English," Dondae said urgently, placing a hand on her shoulder. "What-happened?"

"S-someone j-jumped me in the locker room," she sniffed, taking deep breaths to try and calm down. "She...she held a kn-knife up to my throat and ripped open my...my shirt." Dondae took in a sharp breath, and Trip's grip tightened on her.

"What else happened?" Trip said, his calm voice not hiding the anger he was feeling.

"A..." her voice faltered. "A man sh-showed up and kn-knocked h-her away from-from me. I think-she might've been bleeding. I couldn't see. He t-touched my cheek and said th-that he would protect me and c-c-called me his l-love." She took more deep breaths, her chest tightening.

"Do you know who they were?" Trip asked hurriedly. "Even what they looked like?"

Eon shook her head, staring down at the ground shamefully. "The man...he had on a mask. And the girl...I-I couldn't see her face. I was too scared, I'm sorry, so sorry..."

"Don't apologize," Dondae said as Trip hesitantly pulled the shaking girl into his chest. He stroked her hair soothingly, trying to calm her down. Dondae couldn't help but notice the dark rings of bruises around Eon's wrists, where she'd been held down.

"I'll go see if they're still there," Dondae growled, his fist tightening. "And I'm gonna beat the hell outta that bitch if they are."

"NO!" Eon said loudly, jerking forward and grabbing his sleeve. "Please, nej, don't go in there, just-just don't."

"Eon-" Trip tried to reason.

"No," she said again, more strongly this time. She let go of her shirt with one hand and wiped angrily at her eyes. "You...you can't tell anyone, okay?"

"You've got to be kidding," Trip said incredulously. "You were almost _raped_!" Eon cringed at the word. "We have to tell someone so they can catch her!"

"I don't want to," she said stubbornly, her breathing finally starting to return to normal. "And you do not have any way to catch her-I do not know what she looks like, and no DNA to catch her." Both boys paused guiltily, realizing she was right. "I...I just want to get to class before I'm late. Please."

Dondae slipped off his jacket and placed it around Eon's shoulders. She sent him a grateful glance as she put it on, zipping it up as far as it would go.

"Where's your backpack?" Dondae asked.

"Becka has it," she whispered. "I left it with her."

Trip nodded, still frowning uncertainly. "Do you wanna just skip?" he asked sincerely. "We can just go back to your place and watch horror movies or something."

Eon hesitated, and Dondae jumped in, "Everyone else would love to also go. It'll be fun." The girl sighed, rubbing her forehead. Her head was aching terribly.

"You can get into some comfy sweats..." Trip added in a singsong voice.

Eon finally caved. "Yes, I want to ditch," she groaned. Both boys smiled with relief at her words. Dondae pulled out his phone to text everyone the plans, while Trip started to lead her out of the school.

"You live nearby, yeah?" he asked.

"It's just a few blocks away," Eon replied in a small voice. "I'll show you."

All of her strength was starting to drizzle out of her, and before she had even reached the apartment complex she was dragging her feet on the sidewalk and Dondae and Trip were supporting her.

* * *

><p>Okay, so after this chapter the REAL horror begins :3<p> 


	5. Chapter 5

Thank you to all of the people who reviewed such nice things! :D 3 It means soooooo much to me! I'm actually very insecure when it comes to my writing, and this makes me feel better about myself ^.^

Huzzah! Only one more day of school before Thanksgiving break! :D I can't wait~ I get to spend a whole weekend holed up with some friends playing video games. Don't judge, I know I'm a total geek xD

It might be awhile before my next post. Where we're going doesn't have great internet connection, but I'll put up the next part as fast as I can!

FINALLY, the REAL action begins :3

* * *

><p>Reid slipped on the Latex gloves as he approached the newest crime scene, with Hotch and Morgan in front of him.<p>

The newest body was of a nineteen-year-old girl with light-brown hair and darkly tanned skin. She had a small body frame, and was different than the rest of the victims. She had had her whole jaw completely ripped off, and no clothes. Where her jaw had been was now a CD case that had been roughly duct-taped to keep it in place. A white sticker was on the CD case, stained with browning blood splatters, and read in block letters, 'Watch me.'

"This suddenly feels like alot like the _Saw_ movies," Morgan said as he started to carefully snipped away the duct tape.

"The what?" asked Reid with a frown as he examined the CD and its case.

Morgan froze and openly stared at the genius with his jaw hanging uselessly. "You've _never_ seen the _Saw _movies," he stated.

"Nope," Reid said. "I'm guessing from the title and the very odd connection you made that it they're horror movies. I don't watch horror movies, I think that they desensitize the viewers from violence and tend to not even be remotely medically accurate."

"I am so ashamed of you, pretty boy," Morgan shook his head as he finished examining the body. "This is definitely the same unsub. The age and gender of the victim match the past victims, and there's still stab marks covering the body."

"But why such a change in killing methods?" Reid asked rhetorically. "There seems to be no new motive..."

"Maybe he's come to some sort of conclusion," Morgan threw out. "Perhaps this is his last victim, like he knows that we're about to catch him. He wanted to go out with a big bang, to make sure that he's going to be remembered. It won't be the first time we've had something like this happen."

"We need to get this video to Garcia for analysis," Hotch ordered. "Whatever's on this CD is important, and I think we should watch it immediately."

Everyone agreed, and the trio went back to the car, leaving the local police to finish bagging the body and transporting it to the morgue.

Ten minutes later, the whole team was sitting in the police station's meeting room. They were all waiting tensely as Garcia analyzed the CD. The team had popped it into a player, and she was analyzing it on the other end of the computer, her face a mask of concentration.

"There's no virus or anything on it," Garcia said when she was done. "It's okay to watch."

"Put it on," Hotch ordered with his usual stern voice. Garcia nodded, and tapped a button on her computer. Her image on the computer moved to the side, and another window opened, starting the video.

It was of a girl doll, hanging from a noose. She had stitches for eyes, and a mouth sewn shut, with a plain sac dress. A cassette player was attached to it, and it clicked on a few seconds later.

"Hello, BAU team," a whispered, breathy voice said. It was impossible to tell if it was a boy or a girl, or what age the own of the voice was. "You have all played your part excellently in my little game."

"What in the world's this?" Emily asked sharply, her eyebrows furrowing.

"All of the bodies I've planted are decoys, so I could set up the _actual _game," the doll continued. "You must excuse my...uncalled for behavior. But I had to think of a way to keep you all distracted, and what better way than to give you a case? It wouldn't raise suspicion, and would have all of your undivided attentions."

The more the voice spoke, the more Reid's stomach dropped. Something horrible was about to happen. He just knew it.

"I have dubbed this the Dead Games," the breathy voice announced. "It's all about surviving, and sacrificing what you care for the most. You must face all of your wrongdoings, and your own worst nightmares. In the end, only a few with survive, if any.

"I have taken something precious for you all. Something that you will dearly miss, along with others." That made everyone freeze and stare in horror at the lazily swaying doll. "They are the stars of the game, and will be making all of the decisions. All you have to do is sit back and watch."

"Oh God, he kidnapped more people?" Garcia asked, her voice rising a pitch. "People we know?"

"I will be broadcasting you the footage of all of their movements and actions throughout the Dead Games. The first part will be from a few hours ago. A prologue, if you will, to set the scene. I do hope you enjoy my hard work."

The doll disappeared, and then was replaced by another image.

The camera was placed in the corner of a room, and showed an ordinary, modern living room. There was a couch, and lounging on it were three teenage girls and three boys. They were all joking and laughing together as one of the girls stood up. She had strong features with light-brown hair...and dark skin...

"No." The word escaped Reid's lips before he could stop it.

The girl was Eon.

* * *

><p>"Which one first?" Eon asked to the others as she sifted through the large stack of movies. Mykaela and Josh had stopped at the movie rental store before coming to her apartment and picked out at least ten movies.<p>

"Go for _The Human Centipede,_" Dondae said enthusiastically, sipping at his Mountain Dew. "It's totally awesome and filled with gore!"

"Please, no," Becka groaned. "I always feel like I'm going to faint after I watch that movie."

"You did faint," Josh pointed out helpfully. "You never even got a chance to watch the end of it. You usually give out halfway through." Becka threw a pillow at his head, sticking out her tongue childishly.

"Okay, um, I am just going to put in _Zombieland_," Eon giggled, selecting a random movie. She put it into the DVD player and went back onto the couch, settling in between Becka and Josh.

After a heated debate on whether or not Josh would survive a horror movie, Eon went to the bathroom with tears of mirth in her eyes. When she was done with her business, she pulled out her phone and called Reid for their nightly conversation. She walked into her bedroom, hoping to gain a bit of privacy.

The phone rang a few times before going to voicemail. Sighing, Eon sat down on the edge of her bed and typed out a quick text to her uncle, telling him to call her whenever he got the chance to.

She returned her phone into her pocket and ran her fingers through her hair.

"You okay?"

Eon blinked and looked up to see Trip standing in the doorway, looking concerned. He walked in after she saw him and left the door slightly cracked behind him.

"I am fine," she lied, giving him what she hoped was a convincing smile. He sat down next to her on the bed, his expression showing her that he was unimpressed by her obvious lie.

"Were you just trying to call your uncle?" he asked, gesturing to her pocket.

"Yeah," Eon sighed reluctantly. "He did not answer. He is probably busy trying to figure out his team's latest assignment, or in a meeting."

_Lies, _part of her brain sneered at her. _All lies and excuses. Just face the facts that he doesn't like you and doesn't want to deal with you. _Even though they were just thoughts, they made Eon cringe.

"That sucks," Trip said. "He's. like, a police officer, right?"

"Close enough," she said with a bright smile. Trip returned it with a half smile of his own.

Downstairs, they heard banging and peals of laughter. They shared amused glances as they stood up.

"Let's go make sure they aren't gonna break something," Trip chuckled. Eon nodded, her sadness flying away from her in a flash at the fear of having to clean up a broken lamp or other object.

A dark shape flashed out from her closet. He brought down the baseball bat on Trip's head. The teenager grunted with pain before collapsing onto the bed. Eon stumbled back farther and prepared to scream, when the stranger held a gun to Trip's head. The sound died in her throat at the murderous glint in his eyes through the mask.

"Make one sound and his brain gets splattered over the wall," he growled. "Understood?" Eon hurriedly nodded her head, not trusting her voice. The man reached out a hand. "C'mere."

On the verge of yet another panic attack, Eon timidly crawled over to him. She kept a scream in check as he roughly grabbed her arm, pulling her practically into his lap. He let go of the gun and reached into the pocket of his jacket. He returned with a syringe, and jammed it into her arm.

The next thing she knew, the whole the world was fading into darkness.

It took awhile for the others to notice that Trip and Eon were missing. Becka was the first. She shifted in her seat, frowning as she scanned around the room.

"Hey guys," she began. "Where's Eon and Trip?"

"Good question," Mykaela said as she, too, noticed the young girl was missing. "I'm gonna go see if they're in her room or something. Maybe Trip decided to rape Eon," she joked while she stood up.

Josh and Becka laughed, but Dondae didn't even smirk.

"Dude, what the hell!" he snapped at her angrily, his hand tightening into a fist. Mykaela looked at him, taken aback by the outright hostility of the statement.

"Calm done, Dondae, it was just a joke-" Josh said.

"You shouldn't joke about rape," he snarled, cutting off the nerdy boy. "Rape's disgusting and absolutely horrible. It's just _wrong_."

"Okay, man," Mykaela said, taking a step backwards and holding up her hands in a defeated gesture. "Sorry, I won't do it again." She left the room, with Becka close behind her with a confused expression.

"Uh, what was that about?" Josh asked the agitated teenager.

"Just shut up and watch the damn movie," Dondae snarled in response, crossing his arms. Just the mention of the word 'rape' kept on reminding him how much he wanted to hunt down the bitch who had tried to violate Eon and rip said bitch to small, bite-size pieces.

Neither one of the girls knew what to say as they entered the upstairs. Or, more specifically, Mykaela didn't really care and Becka was too nervous to ask. It actually quite common with the duo.

The door to Eon's room was cracked open, which Mykaela took as an open invitation to come waltzing in the room. She took a few confident strides forward before knocking on the door and stepping inside. She frowned to herself-Eon nor Trip were there.

"Trip? Eon?" she called out. "You in here?"

"It's kind of rude to just barge into someone's room, don't you think?" Becka asked as she entered the room. "I mean, she could've been changing, or calling her uncle."

Mykaela forced herself not to yell at the other girl. "Don't you think it's ruder to ditch your house guests without even telling them where you're going?" She waited with a smirk for the other girl's response. To her surprise, there was none.

"Becka-?" she asked as she started to turn around. A hand wrapped around her mouth, muffling the scream that automatically came out. She managed to get a glance behind the man, and saw Becka passed out on the bed.

"If you fight, it'll just make this harder," the man growled into her ear, tightening his grip on her mouth warningly.

_Oh, this is _not_ going to happen, _Mykaela growled to herself in her head. She shifted her arm and elbowed her attacker in the stomach as hard as she could. Years of dance and wrestling had given her body a surprising amount of strength in her deceptively thin limbs.

The man let out a whoosh of breath at the blow. He reflexively let go of Mykaela's head, and the girl turned around to knee him in the crotch, when he grabbed her again. His hand was so big it easily covered almost all of her face. He wrenched her neck to the side and jammed a needle into the side of her neck with his free hand.

Even as darkness started to creep around the edges of her vision, Mykaela still struggled. No. Mykaela Saunters would _not _go out without a fight. But it soon showed to be completely futile to fight the strong arms restraining her, or the tranquilizer she had been injected with.

She let out a weak groan before slumping back into the man, her mind reluctantly succumbing to the darkness around her.

"Did you hear that?" Josh asked, his gaze snapping to the direction of the stairs. Dondae glanced away from the movie to look at him.

"What?" Dondae asked, finishing his third Mountain Dew since the girls left. "I didn't hear anything."

"I swear I heard something banging upstairs," Josh badgered.

"It's probably just the movie freaking you out," Dondae replied with an edge of agitation in his voice. "The TV has surround sound. It was either that or the neighbors around us-nothing more, nothing less. Can we please watch the movie now? The next part's my favorite." Josh bit his lip worriedly, but didn't say anything.

Dondae started to feel a sense of dread, though, when the girls didn't come back. "Yo!" he called over his shoulder. "Y'all comin' back or not? You're missing the movie!" Silence answered him.

"Go check on them," Dondae nudged Josh with his foot.

The other boy glared at him. "I am not your slave," he snapped. "Get off your butt and do it yourself, you lazy bum." He blanched at the smouldering look Dondae gave him before hurriedly standing up. "Uh, never mind, I'll just go do it."

Dondae settled farther into the couch, a self-satisfied smirk on his face. After awhile, though, it faded into a scowl. _Geez, now he's not gonna come back_? he thought angrily to himself. He stood up, and right when he was about to turn around, he felt a pinch in his neck. The room started to swim in front of him, blurry and distorted, and he fell back against the chair, unconscious like the others.

The killer calmly went back to Eon's bedroom to get the rest of the bodies before leaving.

* * *

><p>Reid felt ready to throw up.<p>

He nearly threw his phone against the wall when all he got was Eon's voicemail for the tenth time. _Dammit, Eon! Pick up the phone!_

He stood there for a minute or two, practically begging his phone to ring. Just one call from Eon's phone-even if she was being held captive, at least he would know if she was alive or dead.

When he realized that that wasn't going to happen, he reluctantly went through his contacts until he found the name 'Dmitri Reid.' Now came the worst part-telling his family that Eon had been kidnapped.

His team was in the other room, grimly watching the video of the kidnapping again repeatedly. They all still couldn't believe that one of their own had been taken-Reid's own blood family, nonetheless.

As soon as the first watching of the video was done, Garcia had quickly had ended the video call to notify the police and check Reid's apartment to see if they were still there. Reid also excused himself, desperately trying to reach his niece. To make sure none of his team would be eavesdropping, he had even gone outside to stand in front of the station while he made his calls.

"The unsub obviously planned it," Hotch said shortly in the silence. "He's probably been preparing to do this for weeks-maybe even months."

"How would he know Eon for that long, though?" Emily asked. "She lived in Canada for the past few months. He would have had to meet her there and then follow her all the way to Virginia."

"And that raises the question," JJ joined in, "How did he know she was going to fly to Virginia, and where exactly she was staying? He would probably have had to be relatively close to her to figure such things out."

"Or he was a stalker, who rifled through her mail and found out Reid's address on a letter," Rossi threw out.

"No, today it's all about technology," Morgan objected. "Maybe he hacked her email, and found out through that. We should have Garcia check it out." Hotch quickly sent a text message to Garcia, telling her to hack Eon's email and see if anyone had accessed it recently.

Spencer came back in almost a half hour later, his face scowling and eyes blazing with worry and pure outrage. He silently sat down.

"The family's been notified," he stated dully. "My brother will be here in a few days, if he can get a leave, and I don't know when Eon's mother's coming. If all." He spat out the last part vehemently, crossing his arms across his chest.

It didn't escape the notice of everyone on the team how hostile he was in mentioning his sister. Hotch and Rossi both raised an eyebrow, while the others sent him surprised looks.

"I'm guessing you...don't like her?" Morgan asked delicately.

"Excuse the language," Reid said sourly, "but-well, she's a skanky bitch."

Rossi choked on his coffee, and everyone stared at him in shock.

"Come again?" Hotch asked. He'd never heard Reid even say the lightest cuss word-what had suddenly brought on such foul language?

"Now's not the time to explain my strained family ties," he snapped. "We have to find my niece and her friends before the first 48 hours are up. It's been at least three hours, judging by the view out of the window, so that leaves 45 hours. We don't have much time."

Everyone agreed, and set to work.

* * *

><p>As usual, please RR :)

Love to everyone~


	6. Chapter 6

Ahhhrg! Sorry it took so long to post a new chapter!

I'm up in the Rocky Mountains for a mini-vacation with my mom, and the internet's...well, crap ^-^". And since I'm working on this story in google docs, it was hard to get it to work properly ;-;

Thank you to everyone who was reviewed, read and/or favorited! I love you all soooo much!

This chapter's still kinda eh, but THE DEAD GAMES FINALLY START IN THE NEXT CHAPTERRRRR :D HUZZA! THE WAIT IS OVER, LET THE HORROR BEGINNN!

I'm sorry, I just had, like, five Mountain Dews and I'm practically bouncing off the walls...xD

Let us begin~

* * *

><p>The first thing that Eon noticed was a horrible pounding in her skull. She groaned softly, and moved her head side to side, trying to make the waves of pain disappear. Why was her bed suddenly so hard? Maybe she fell asleep on the couch, watching television. No, no, this was still too hard...<p>

Memories came washing over her sleep-dulled mind, snapping her fully awake.

Eon sat up straight and looked around. She was in a room made out of concrete, with large windows. Besides the raised platform she was on, there was nothing in the room. Outside, there was a literal jungle-vines hung down from moss-covered trees, and bugs hummed obnoxiously. It seemed like the room was a story or two above the forest floor, but it was hard to tell.

She tried to stand up, only to hear a clink of metal. Looking down in horror, she found a large metal chain was leading from the floor up to a chain hanging around her neck. Her clothes from before had been changed to a tight-fitting, white tank top and shorts that were so short they made her cringe.

Breathing rapidly, she let out an earsplitting scream.

* * *

><p>The man stared intently, his hands laced in his lap. In front of him, twelve screens glowed back the images of the thirteen contestants in his Dead Games, all of whom were in different situations.<p>

He grinned a smile full of malice-everything was going exactly according to plan.

Contestant Thirteen-also known as Eon-was the first one to awaken. It was ironic, considering she was the star of the show. The weakest link-if she was in danger, everyone else would try their hardest to save her. And he would exploit that power as much as he could.

When she let out a scream, he decided to speak to her.

He flipped on the voice scrambler, and opened the speaker so Eon could hear him.

"It's alright, young Eon," he said, his voice coming out raspy.

Eon searched the room fearfully. "Who are you?" she called up. "What's going on?"

"One question at a time," he chuckled darkly. "I have been known as many names, but you can refer to me as Gamekeeper."

"Gamekeeper?" she breathed, apprehension covering her face. "Wha-?"

"You, along with twelve others, have been selected to take part of the Dead Games." Her jaw dropped, sending a thrill up the man's spine. "The object of the game is simple. You must complete the tasks assigned to you, or face a very unpleasant death." She had started to tremble, which brought a sadistic grin onto his face. "You, my dear Eon, have the pleasure of being the Sacrifice."

"_Sacrifice_?" the girl squeaked, her voice high with delicious fear.

"Yes," he explained, practically purring with delight. "Everyone will be fighting to save either your life, or a part of you. If they fail to complete it, you will be the bearer of the consequences. And they will be forced to witness every single moment of it."

Eon's face had slowly been starting drop as he supplied the information for her. She started mumbling out words in Swedish, and was on the verge of tears. The man frowned. It was too early for tears.

"The games are just beginning," he admonished. "Save the tears for when the real games begin." She didn't respond. She simply brought her knees to her chest and buried her head. The man smiled and turned off the microphone and speaker so he didn't have to hear her insistent cries.

He absently watched the others, stroking his unshaven face. They, too, were starting to stir into consciousness. Soon, they'd all be ready to face their challenges. Soon, the Dead Games would start.

Mykaela was the next one awake. She awoke abruptly and noisily. After waiting for the drugs to completely wear out of her system, she was screaming at the top of her lungs and banging her high-heeled boots against the metal door. When the man tried to talk to her, she swore him out and he gave up.

The next one was Josh. He proceeded to bawl his eyes out and beg to be let out. The man rolled his eyes-he hated it when they gave up so easily.

Dondae started to pound on the door. He managed to put a dent in it, which surprised the man. That door was made out of pure metal. He knew the burly teenager wouldn't be able to break his way through, but just to be on the safe side, he told him hurriedly about the Dead Games, and the Sacrifice. Dondae's face paled, and he had slowly sat down in the corner.

Becka had started to hyperventilate after being told about the Dead Games, and the man had grown bored quickly.

Trip was much more fun. The man had never heard such colorful language out of a teenager's mouth-or anyone's, for that matter. He never was a 'social butterfly.' Crowds made him anxious.

The other seven-four boys named Andy, Mikey, Heath and Derek, along with three girls named Hallie, Talia and Willow-were a mixture of reactions. Some of them begged him to let them go. Some screamed obscenities at him. One even begged him to get it over with and kill him.

He smiled, two uneven rows of rotting, yellowed teeth.

The Dead Games were about to begin. So close, in fact, he could taste the blood already on the tip of his tongue.

* * *

><p>The BAU team was in an airplane, flying down to Brazil. They were just about to land.<p>

Thanks to the amazing technical genius of Garcia, they were able to find the general region of where the videos were coming from. Within the hour, they had the A-OK from the Brazilian and US government, and were on the plane.

Emily went over and sat next to Hotch, who was reading the newspaper. Next to him was Rossi, and farther down was Morgan, listening to music. JJ was sitting across the aisle from Reid, trying to get him to talk to her. He refused to, adamantly staring out the window.

"Hotch," Emily said in a low voice, sitting across from her boss, "We need to talk."

Hotch sighed and folded the newspaper. "I know what this is about," he said in his usual monotone. "You're worried about Reid. Am I right?"

Emily nodded. "He's been so quiet the whole time, and each time his phone buzzes he freaks out."

"He's understandably under stress," Rossi pointed out, turning his gaze from the window to the other two. "His niece, someone he adored, was kidnapped and is being forced to participate in a psycopath's twisted games. Not only that, but he has to explain this whole situation to his family, who he obviously doesn't get along with."

"Perhaps the family has something to do with his?" Emily threw out.

"We shouldn't be profiling out own teammate," Hotch interjected. "We all agreed not to profile each other."

"But he's the victim's family," Rossi pointed out. "It's normal to profile the family of the victim. In order to find the unsub, or at least learn more about him or her, we're going to have to at some point."

Just then, there was the sound of a phone ringing. Reid nearly jumped out of his seat before fumbling with his phone. He quickly opened it and started talking lowly to whoever was on the other line in Swedish.

Hotch bit the inside of his mouth, feeling torn. On one hand, he didn't want to break the agreement of no profiling each other. It would most assuredly strain ties between Reid and the rest of the team. On the other, it could bring Eon and her friends safely home, along with helping Reid share his feelings.

"How about instead of making assumptions you just ask him?" Hotch asked slowly.

"You'll find out when we land."

The three started and looked up guiltily at the youngest member of the team, who was standing behind Hotch's seat. Reid's face was dull, and his eyes were bitter. JJ came and sat next to Emily, while Morgan pulled out his headphones."

"My brother's stationed in Brazil," he explained sourly, "so he'll be there when we land. He pulled some strings, goddammit, with the Swedish government."

"He's in the government?" Rossi asked, surprised.

"You'll be getting a message from the Vice President," the youngest agent plowed on, "saying to work with my brother's team and get this figured out. The Swedish government is taking this kidnapping as a terrorist act against the country, considering Eon and mine's family."

"I feel like I'm missing a huge piece of information here," JJ asked, pinching the bridge of her nose. She spoke for the rest of the group, who were also absolutely puzzled. "Who's your family?"

Reid clenched his jaw and let out a tight breath. "My older brother, Dmitri Reid," he relented, "is a _Konterameral_ in the Swedish Army. My older sister, Kriistina, is an Örlogskapten in the Swedish Navy."

"Translation, please," Morgan said, shaking his head in confusion.

Reid bit his lip, almost breaking the skin. He didn't want to be having this conversation. But thanks to his damned siblings and the government, he had to.

"A Konterameral is the same as a major general in the US Army," he said, the words rushing out of his mouth so fast that his team had trouble keeping up. "An Örlogskapten is a Major in the Navy."

The team sat in stunned silence, practically going into shock.

"Congratulations," Reid said, his face starting to flush with embarrassment. "Now you know."

"Why didn't you tell us before?" Hotch demanded, angry that his teammate hadn't trusted him enough to tell him something as big as that.

"Gideon knew," Reid said helplessly. His mentor was the first one he had ever told-outside of his therapist-of that secret. He had kept it as closely guarded as possible.

The youngest member shrugged weakly. "I'm actually not supposed to tell," he explained. "It's for the safety of Eon and myself. Do you know how many death threats we would get, or how many people would try to kidnap us? I've already tried to do the Secret Service thing before, and it's unbearable."

No one knew what to say. They all just gaped at Reid stupidly, uncertain of how to react or what actions would be appropriate for the situation.

"Are...are either of them Eon's parents?" Emily asked.

"No," he said reluctantly. "Her mother is...unreachable at the moment. She'll show up at some point. Probably." He uttered the last word so quietly the team almost missed it.

"Probably?" Rossi scrunched his nose, trying to figure out the meaning behind the tone of the word. "Doesn't she care about her own daughter?"

Reid stared at him for what felt like ever. "You really don't get it, do you?" he murmured in a small voice.

That sent warning lights off in everybody's head. You didn't have to be a profiler to know it was something bad. Yet it was still too vague; _what _was so bad that Reid had had to take in the teenage girl?

JJ tried a tender approach. "You can trust us, Spencer," she coaxed, using all of her past training in interrogation.

Reid didn't speak for a few long seconds. "There's a reason why she's staying with me," he said elusively.

He turned on his heel and went back to his seat, leaving his team to mull over his words. To stop any chance of conversation, he leaned his head against the glass of the window and pretended to sleep.

* * *

><p>Dmitri Reid was a gruff man. He stood an intimidating six foot two, and had brown hair trimmed pristinely into a buzz-cut. His eyes would be exactly like Reid's, if they hadn't been hardened by years of fighting. He was extremely muscular, and wore the traditional Swedish uniform. He was waiting with an unreadable expression on the side of the landing strip, intensely watching the plane as it dropped smoothly onto the ground.<p>

Reid was the first one off the plane. He walked silently up to Dmitri. His team watched with baited breaths as the brothers started at each other, not saying anything.

They hadn't seen each other in years. The situation in which they were meeting under was also adding onto the strained relations. It made Reid slightly unnerved-would his brother scream at him? Have him arrested for child neglect? Beat him—

Strong arms pulled him into a bear hug, almost picking him up off the ground. Reid awkwardly patted his brother's back, unsure of what to do. It made Hotch raise an eyebrow, and the girls fawn over the brotherly affection.

"It is wonderful to see you, brother," Dmitri said in a gruff voice. His accent was American, like Reid.

"Same to, ah, you," Reid replied. His brother let him go, giving him a fleeting smile.

Reid's team started to approach, but the genius waved them off pleadingly. He wanted to have a private conversation with his brother. They all went over to where the tents had been set up-thanks to the generosity of the locals and Dmitri's team-and started to unload all of their equipment.

"I'm so glad you're safe," Dmitri said as he examined his little brother. "The kidnapper didn't hurt you at all? Attack you?"

Reid sighed heavily. "No," he said. "They just took Eon while I was working."

Dmitri's eyes filled with pain. "_I'm so sorry, Reid_," he said, switching to Swedish. Even though the team was trying to hide it, he noticed that they were all eavesdropping on the conversation. "_How you holding up?_"

"_I'm going_," Reid replied. "_I just want Eon back here, safe and sound._"

Dmitri gave him a pat on the shoulder, leaving his hand there to give him a comforting squeeze. "_The feeling's mutual._"

"_By the way, that was a dirty trick you used with the Swedish government_," Reid said accusingly, narrowing his eyes. His brother looked away guiltily. "_Making them believe it was a state of national security? Seriously_?"

Dmitri grinned sheepishly. "_It worked, didn't it_?" he said innocently. "_And it kind of is. The kidnappers basically have the Swedish Army and Navy in the palm of their hands with Eon. Everyone loves and adores her._"

A lump formed in Reid's throat. He rubbed the back of his neck and bit his lip, a nervous habit he would have to break. It was complete, 100% his fault; Eon had been kidnapped under his care. If she had stayed with someone else, this would have never happened. Maybe if he had tried to listen to her more, he would have learned about a stalker she had, or if she was feeling uneasy about anything. He knew she had to have been about something.

"Reid-" Dmitri began, sensing the way his brother's thoughts were leaning. The genius cut him off before the word had even escaped his mouth.

"Let's just go meet the team." Without saying anything else, Reid led his brother over to his team.

"Dmitri," he said as they approached the team. "This is my team."

Each one of Reid's teammates introduced themselves, shaking Dmitri's hand politely. None of them were sure how to react around the man-formal? Informal?

"This is the formal agreement between the US government and the Swedish," Dmitri said, giving Hotch a white, crisp envelope. "You don't have to respond if you don't want to. There's a phone number also, if you need to confirm anything."

"I don't think that'll be necessary," Hotch said, nodding his head in thanks as he took the letter and put it into his jacket pocket.

Dmitri nodded. "My team and I are only here to supervise and guard you and your team," he said. "We won't get in your way unless you ask us to. If it comes to the point where you have to go into the jungle, my team's trained to deal with all kinds of terrain, and have already scouted the area, so will be ready to escort you through. I know you all won't be comfortable with it at first, but it's better than the alternative, where we completely take over this operation. All I ask is that you keep me up to dated with all of the newest information, and what you have so far."

Hotch nodded and started the lengthy explanation of the events in the past 24 hours. Reid kept his eyes trained on the live stream the 'Game Keeper' had oh-so-kindly supplied them, waiting for any change in the now-awakened contestants.

Everyone else immediately started on the profile of the kidnapper. Since the other kills had simply been decoys, they had to scrap the old one and create a brand new one. It was going to be even harder-almost impossible-with no clues at the crime scenes, or motives.

They all just prayed they'd make it in time.

* * *

><p>Meh. I felt like I rushed this, so I know there's a lot of mistakes :P<p>

The next part will be up soon, I pinky promise!

And now, I gotta pee!

I cannot believe I just said (or is it typed? whatever, you get the idea) that!


	7. Chapter 7

Thank you to everyone who reviewed. Even if your review was negative, I think it's good that you took the time to speak your mind. I'm sorry if I offended any of you with my writing or name choices. And I promise that this character was not based off of me.

Bah...hate family drama. My dad's dating a girl who's half his age, and he only decided to tell me a few days ago that they'd been dating for months. The divorce was only finalized a week ago...

Meh. I won't blather on about my family drama. That's what my therapist is for :)

* * *

><p>It was mid-afternoon-Hotch's turn to watch the Dead Game monitors.<p>

He took a large gulp of his coffee as he watched the screens closely, searching for any changes in normality (or as normal as a situation like this could get). There was none so far, but he refused to take his eyes off the screens. Maybe, just maybe, the unsub would let something slip.

"How's it going?"

Hotch shifted in his chair and looked up at Dmitri, who was standing next to him. "No changes in any of the victims," he replied in a monotone. "Well, except Mykaela Byrnes stopped screaming."

Dmitri nodded and sat nearby on a box. "Good. That's good. Anything with Eon?"

Hotch pointed out the girl's screen, where she was pulling futilely against the chain on her neck. Even from the distance, they could see her neck was rubbed raw from the biting metal. "Like the rest. No change, for better or worse."

Running a hand through his hair, Dmitri heaved a heavy sigh. The two sat in silence, Dmitri thinking and Hotch trying to figure out the right time to ask about Reid and his relation shit. The SSA sighed and gave up on it; it didn't seem right to ask that question in this situation.

"Our dad took me and one of our sisters instead of him."

Hotch blinked and looked at Dmitri, who was still staring at the ground.

"You want to know why Spencer hates his family so much," he stated. "You'll find out anyway, so I might as well tell you. It's not like he can hate me anymore.

"When our dad ran out on us, he took me and Dahlia. He wanted to take Kriistina and Charles, but wanted to leave Spencer. Obviously, the other two refused to leave their youngest brother, so he left them. Not even a year later, they couldn't take it anymore, and left our mother and Reid alone. They didn't even ask him if he wanted to come. They just up and left.

"Ever since then, whenever we try to contact him or Mom, they completely ignore it," he said, his voice dropping an octave. "I know they'll never forgive us; more specifically, me. I was the one who convinced everyone else to go live with Dad. I figured Mom would try to commit suicide or something if she was left alone, and so the responsibility to stay fell to the most obvious and easiest choice: Spencer."

Dmitri stopped talking abruptly, covering his mouth with his hand and still staring at in invisible spot on the dirt ground.

Hotch was at a loss for what to say. He wanted to sympathize with the man, yet at the same time he wanted to beat him into the ground for abandoning such a young boy in an unsuitable environment.

Hotch rubbed his eyes with one hand. "That's probably why he's so horrible in social situations," he blurted.

Dmitri raised an eyebrow. "He's that bad?"

The other nodded. He felt like he should share something personal about Reid, since Dmitri had done just that. "He can't talk to a girl without stuttering, and each time there's more than two strangers in a room he starts listing off data like a robot. Don't tell him, but it drives the team absolutely insane. More than a dozen times have we tried to confront him about it, but everyone backs out at the end. He can't even swear without getting embarrassed."

"Wow," Dmitri murmured. "I knew he wasn't Mr. Social, but that's taking it to a whole new level."

Hotch chuckled dryly, before his face darkened. "Most of the team goes through many phases where they retaliate against the person above them, which happened to be me," he said. "But Reid...that's only happened twice. With minor things. Everyone else had rebelled at least a dozen times with major things. It's...unnatural. And it gets worse."

"It can't get worse," Dmitri said in dismay.

"But it does," Hotch confirmed. He leaned in closer and said, "I'm almost positive he's never gotten...intimate with anyone. He's practically afraid to get near any girl who looks at him in any way sexually."

Both of them had been too wrapped up in the story to notice that Reid had approached at the beginning, and was standing there with his arms crossed. He watched the scene unfold with dull eyes.

He was tired. Too tired to feel betrayed, too tired to cry, too tired to scream... He just wanted to sleep for the next month, and let the problem solve itself.

"Well, you were wrong about one thing," Reid spoke up finally. His supposed confident and brother whipped around and fixed him with matching guilty looks. "I can hate you more than I already do."

"Reid-" Hotch began.

Reid held up a finger, stopping the man in his tracks. "I hate to be the one who can't swear," he said. His quiet voice was a million times worse than yelling. "Or the one who's awkward with two or more people in the room, but shut the fuck up."

"What I mean, Reid-" Hotch tried again.

"I know perfectly well what you meant," Reid said. "You don't have to explain anything. I...you proved to me that I can't trust you with my personal problems. And that's okay. I won't bother you."

"Spencer," Dmitri said, standing up. He tried to touch Reid's shoulder, but the younger man slapped his hand away.

"Don't touch me," he said dully. "And don't call me Spencer. Only people close to me can call me that."

Pangs of shame waved through Dmitri's eyes. Reid felt a swell of satisfaction. His brother should feel bad about ruining his life. He should've just stopped trying to get into Reid's life years ago, when he first left.

"I'm not going to scream or yell at you guys right now," Reid continued in the unsettling calm tone. "We have to save Eon before it's too late. But after she's safe, we're going to have to have a _talk_."

Without saying another word, the genius walked away, leaving the other two behind.

"I-I think we just screwed up." Dmitri said slowly, blinking. "Big time."

Hotch groaned and put his head in his hands. The delicate friendship Reid and him had created over the years had just been shattered onto the ground, where a bull tap-danced all over it.

Something caught the corner of his eye. He sat up straight and turned his focus onto the screen where things were starting to move. "Dmitri," he said, his voice hardening. "Get the team. Now."

* * *

><p>Dondae's fists were bleeding, forcing him to stop pounding the door. Snarling in frustration, he threw himself back in the corner, glaring heatedly at the scrap of metal that was between him and his freedom.<p>

_Goddammit, what the hell was going on?_ he yelled in his head. He felt helpless in this situation. Dondae Hale did not like being helpless.

The speaker crackled back into life. _Thank god! Now I can give a piece of my mind to that dirty lil'—_

"Hello, Dondae and William," the breathy voice said coolly. "You two have been chosen as the first competitors for Game Number One of the Dead Games."

Part of Dondae's brain asked, _who was William_? but most of it was preoccupied with the imposing 'Game.'

The door in front of him slid open with a metallic whirring sound. It startled Dondae enough to make him tense his muscles. Pushing himself up onto his feet, Dondae crept cautiously closer towards the open doorway as the room was finally revealed.

The room was cut in half by a rusty chain-link fence, each side identical. On each side was a goat that was tied down onto a silver, holed operating table, struggling hopelessly against muzzles and large brown restraints. A bare light bulb hung above the tables, and two smaller trays, covered with a white cloth, was next to the goats. A large basin hung underneath each operating table, made out of an off-white plastic.

A fat, red-neck man appeared on the other side, looking around dazedly. When he saw Dondae, he glared at him suspiciously. The teenager glared back, immediately getting hostile with the man.

"This Game is easy," the Game Keeper said. "Pull off the white cloths from the tray."

The man and Dondae both yanked off the cloths, and gaped at what they found. Lying on the table, sharp and new, were surgical tools. A few scalpels were there, along with more than two serrated knives and some things neither of the contestants knew. The arrangement made Dondae's stomach churn in horror and uncertainty.

"Each of you have been given equipment to help with this Game," the Game Keeper went on. "You both have ninety seconds-" red numbers appeared on the wall, showing ninety seconds- "-to kill the goats and bleed them. Each of you must collect at least a gallon of blood-there will be a beep when you have-and drink all of it."

Both the contestants immediately started yelling.

On the other side of the forest, the team took sharp intakes of breath.

"This guy is _sick_!" Emily said, dismayed. She crossed her arms and stood up. She felt restless watching this.

JJ noticed that Reid had a sort of glazed look over his face. She discreetly moved closer to him. "Reid," she murmured, reaching out to touch him. "Are you-"

"Peachy keen," he muttered, shying out of her reach.

JJ frowned. Reid had always let her touch him. So why was he moving out of her reach now, all of a sudden? She tried to ask him, but he had already moved so Rossi and Morgan were between him.

"I am not bleeding a helpless goddamn goat!" Dondae roared, taking a defensive stance.

"I'm with the brat!" the man said, his voice thick with a Southern accent. "Hell if I'm gonna do that!"

"I knew you would say that," the Game Keeper said with a raspy chuckle.

A panel slid open from the wall, one on each side of the fence. Two small television slid out, coming to stop with a clunk. They flickered to life, revealing a concrete room. In the center was a brown-haired, thin teenage girl, chained to the ground...

"Oh dear God," JJ breathed.

"LEAVE EON OUT OF THIS!" Dondae howled, a vein pulsing in his neck. "This is OUR Game! Not hers!"

Eon looked around with frightened eyes. "Dondae?" she asked in a cracked voice. The fear in that small voice only fueled on the already fuming boy. "Is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me," Dondae said, trying to stop his voice from shaking. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"N-no, I am fine," she whispered, crossing her arms over her chest. She finally found the camera and fixed with a pleading stare. "Wha-what about-"

She was interrupted by a loud, grating sound, like a door being opened. Part of the floor turned out to be a hatch, and it flipped open to reveal an awfully familiar woman...

"No." The word was uttered out of Eon's mouth without her realizing it.

"Hello, sexy," the woman from the locker room said, closing the hatch and locking it tight. "Miss me?"

"Who the hell is that?" Morgan said in horror. The mystery girl had only said four words, and he was already getting a rape-vibe from her.

Eon screamed and scrambled back as far as the chain would allow. The woman swaggered closer, her face leering towards Eon. She lazily removed her jacket, leaving her in a tight-fitting black shirt.

"No!" Dondae bellowed. He had figured out in a flash who the woman was. She had to be the one who jumped Eon in the locker room.

"If neither of you participate, dearest Eon will be raped by our Enforcer," the Game Keeper said gleefully.

The woman-the 'Enforcer'-let out an evil cackle.

"Please don't participate," she cooed. "I just can't wait to get my hands on her hot body." Eon flinched at the words as if they'd been screamed.

"She's disgusting," Rossi growled.

Morgan had walked over to the whiteboard and had quickly written down the new unsub's nickname, next to the Game Keeper's. He quickly scribbled down the limited facts they knew about her, before returning his gaze to the scene that was unfolding.

"Garcia," Hotch said sharply into the phone to the tech goddess.

"Already on it, boss-man," Garcia said, sniffing loudly as her fingers flew over the keyboard. She had taken a few screen saves of the Enforcer's face, and was now running it through her database of criminals.

William decided to speak up. "I don't give a hoot if she gets raped," he said snidely. "I just wanna get outta here."

He yelped and moved a few steps back when Dondae threw himself at the fence, shaking it ferociously.

"Say that again!" Dondae shouted at him. "I dare you! If this damn thing wasn't in the way, I'd break your arms!"

"You don't care if a little girl gets raped?" the Game Keeper asked, bemused.

William laughed shortly. "Man, if I could, I'd make sure she wouldn't. But she's a total stranger. I can honestly I've never seen her before in my life. No way am I gonna risk myself for her."

"Hm," the Game Keeper hummed. "Then I'll have to tweak the penalty. Do it and win, or you die. How does that sound?" He didn't wait for William to respond. "Time starts now."

The clock started counting down.

William and Dondae rushed towards their goats.

Dondae picked up the serrated knife, figuring it would make the goat's death less painful. He moved so he was in front of the goat's head. The goat seemed to be pleading at him with its amber eyes, begging him to let it go. Dondae whispered apology after apology while he scrunched his eyes closed.

He brought the knife down, slashing the goat's throat in one quick movement.

Blood spouted out of the wound, soaking Dondae's hands. The goat twitched a few times, before falling lifelessly back against the table. The blood seeped through the gaps in it, dyeing the container underneath crimson.

Dondae desperately tried to remember what he had learned in his Anatomy class. _Where are the major arteries again_?

Meanwhile, William was busy slashing his poor goat practically to pieces. He hadn't even tried to kill the goat the first time—he just started hacking away. He was close to filling his container, way ahead of Dondae.

_Screw it,_ Dondae thought, and slashed a long line across the goat's sides.

The tangy smell of blood-and whatever the goat had had for lunch-made Dondae gag, but he kept on slashing as much as he could. There was no other choice for him, and William was already far ahead of him.

There was a ding.

Dondae froze as William fell to his knees and cupped his hands into the blood. He filled them with the lukewarm blood, and raised it to his lips. He held his breath, trying to block out the taste as he drank. He couldn't even make it through one mouthful before he threw up onto the ground next to him.

The container belonging to Dondae finally dinged. He followed William's lead, and went down onto his knees. _It's just punch, it's just punch, it's just punch..._ was repeated in his head like a mantra as he gulped down a large mouthful of it. He choked, his throat constricting, but he forced himself to finish the handful before coughing uncontrollably.

"Tick tock, tick tock," the Game Keeper sneered over the speaker.

"Shut up!" Dondae yelled at him, his voice nearly giving out. "You're not helping any!"

"It wasn't supposed to," the Game Keeper responded.

William had recovered from his first handful and was now trying to take a second one. He barely managed to keep it down this time, and had to take a ten second break before even thinking about doing another one.

Dondae had figured out a system. Drink, gag, break, repeat. It wasn't complicated, but it did wonders on keeping him focused on moving. He didn't allow the break to be too long, fearing he wouldn't be able to finish.

He glanced at the clock as he reached halfway through the container. He had a little over 40 seconds left. _I have to go faster._ He started to ignore the breaks and just continuously filled his mouth with the goat's blood.

Eon covered her ears, desperate to block out the retching sounds of her friend. It backfired, though. She didn't hear the Enforcer come up until it was too late. The much stronger woman wrapped a muscular arm around her waist, pulling Eon back into her chest.

Eon yelped in surprise, and was too frightened to move. Her heart thudded noisily in her chest, and beads of sweat started to form across her tan skin.

"Are you listening?" the Enforcer purred into Eon's ear. Using her other hand, she forced the small girl's head towards the ceiling, giving her access to the slim throat. "You better be. He's doing it for you, after all." Her hand started to creep up the white tank top.

Reid walked over to the white board, and wrote under the Enforcer's name in huge block letters: "Sadistic Rapist and a Bitch." Wordlessly, he returned to his position next to Morgan, ignoring the pointed looks.

Eon reacted before she could think. She elbowed the Enforcer in the groin, making her release the small girl out of shock and pain. Eon once again ran as far away as she could from her, staying crouched.

"Do not touch me," Eon spat out, "unless you want to never have kids."

The Enforcer growled and pulled out a switchblade from her back pocket. She advanced, spitting out, "You're gonna die for that one, you stupid little brat."

"But you cannot kill me," Eon said bravely. "I am the 'Sacrifice,' am I not? Killing me would take away the upper hand you have on everyone else."

Dmitri growled approvingly. "That's my girl," he said from behind his teeth.

The Enforcer didn't respond. She simply positioned herself against the wall and watched Eon closely, searching for any openings for her to pounce on. Literally.

William was curled in the fetal position, gasping for breath after his latest emptying of his stomach. He didn't know how much longer he could do this. It was too disgusting for his body to take.

Dondae, on the other hand, was nearly done. His heart beat rapidly with joy as he scraped up his last handful.

"DONE!" he bellowed, holding up his hands. Blood was dripping from his mouth and hands, making him look savage. "I'M DONE!"

The timer on the wall stopped. William looked up in horror, and tried to say something but was interrupted by the sound of a valve opening and the rush of what sounded like liquid through pipes.

A few drops of said liquid fell from the ceiling on William's side. It started to practically rain with it. As soon as the liquid touched William's skin, it turned red and started to pull apart. He let out roars of pain as the acid rained down on him. It ate through his clothes and skin, revealing red muscles and stained bones.

Dondae tried to pull his gaze away, but he couldn't. He watched all of it until all that was left of his competition was a gelatinous pile of flesh, muscle and protruding pieces of bone.

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><p>Please review andor favorite. You know the drill

Lots of love,

Blood Dahlia


	8. Chapter 8

Danke, danke, danke shön to whoever read this and either favorited or gave it a review~ :) *kisses everyone on the forehead* It doesn't seem like much, but it gives my self esteem a humongous boost :D

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><p>Dondae was sent back sitting in his cell after the Game was done and he did nothing but sit in the corner. He was too numb to do anything else.<p>

"Since you were such an excellent contestant," the Game Keeper informed him, "I'll allow you to make a call."

Just as he said those words, Reid's phone started buzzing in his pocket. He quickly fumbled it out of his pocket and checked the caller. On the screen in white, blocky letters read, _Eon Reid_. The unsub was calling him on his niece's phone.

Reid flipped it open and put it on speakerphone. "This is Reid," he said, trying to keep the tremble out of his voice.

"Who the hell's this?" Dondae said, glaring at the speaker where the voice was coming form. "And why do you have Eon's last name?"

"My name's Spencer Reid," the genius explained. "I'm Eon's uncle."

"We work for the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI," Hotch cut in. "I'm Agent Hotchner. Can you tell me anything about where you are? Any outstanding feature."

"I'm in a box." Hotch felt a twinge of annoyance at the blunt words.

"Yes, we can see that," he started impatiently.

"Hold up!" Dondae yelled. "Y'all can see me? Y'all saw _everything_? What kinda sick people are you to watch me drink goat's blood?"

The annoyance started to swell. "Yes, it's our job-"

"Your job my ass! Just get me and Eon the hell outta here before I have to start eating goat's testicles!"

Morgan choked on a laugh. Reid glared at him viciously. "What?" he said defensively. "It was funny!" Reid sidestepped farther away from his teammate, utterly disgusted with his sense of humor.

"We're trying our hardest," Hotch said calmly, reigning in his emotions. "If you learn anything that can be of use to us, just speak it out loud. We can hear what you're saying, and it can help us get closer to catching the unsub."

"An _unsub_?" Dondae asked blankly.

"The unidentified subject," Emily supplied. "It's a term-"

"Hello? What? Goddamn, I can't hear a word you're saying!" Dondae yelled loudly, staring at the camera.

"I'm sorry," the Game Keeper said. "I got bored."

"I-hate you-so much," Dondae growled.

Reid returned his phone to his pocket with a shaky hand. He clenched and unclenched his jaw reflexively, trying to keep calm. _Wait, why am I trying to keep calm? I'm perfectly allowed to freak out!_ Holding his breath, he walked out of the small tent, desperately needing to be alone and gather his thoughts.

The team remained silent, watching their genius walk away with his shoulders slumped and head hanging loosely. They all jumped when the phone on the table started buzzing insistently.

"Whatcha got, Garce?" JJ asked as she answered the phone on the first ring.

The tech goddess sounded out of breath as she spoke a mile a minute. "I found a match. This 'Enforcer' chicky is 31-year-old Melanie Gregorovich. She's a repeated sex offender in Sweden and Russia, and spent four months in prison as a result of it. She went off the map about half a year ago until, as you all know, she showed up out of the blue here."

"Oh, God," Dmitri groaned, closing his eyes and his face a mask of pain. His niece was stuck in a secluded room with a crazy woman who wanted to rape her. Could this possibly get any worse?

"That could explain how she met Eon," Rossi said, stroking his goatee thoughtfully.

"Did the expert unscramble the voice yet?" Hotch asked. His tie was skewed, and he had a harassed look on his face.

"Not yet," Garcia replied fretfully. "I promise, sir, we're trying our very hardest-"

"I know, Garcia," he said heavily. "Call us when you get anything new."

"Yes, sir." She ended the conversation.

Garcia gave her best glare as she stared at the screen in front of her. On it was a large map that showed how much the origin of the call had jumped around. Charlestown, London, Las Vegas, Buenos Aires, Rothero... The Game Keeper knew his chiz. And it ticked off Garcia to no end.

Kevin hesitantly entered the tech goddess' lair, rapping his knuckles on the door lightly. He squeaked when she glared at him heatedly.

"What do you want, sweetie bear?" she said, forcefully stabbing at her keyboard with the end of her pen.

"I-I bring coffee and reports," he offered weakly, holding up the coffee cup. After watching it suspiciously for half a second, Garcia snatched it out of his trembling hands and gulped it down thirstily.

"What'd the other techies find?" she asked tersely as she went back to typing. At the request of Dmitri, expert voice unscramblers had been brought in, and more people to help look things up. Garcia could decide if she liked the idea of having help or not.

"Something extremely helpful," Kevin said. "Gregorovich was in jail for a few months before an anonymous person bailed her out. We're still trying, but we might be able to track it down and find the person. I bet a whole month's worth of sex that it's this Game Keeper fellow."

Garcia's well-manicured fingers froze over her keyboard. She spun her chair around and briskly walked over to her boyfriend. She wrapped her arms around Kevin's shoulders and gave him a sloppy kiss.

"Have I told you how much I love your brains, sugar dumpling?" she whispered.

His whole face turned the color of a tomato, and he started muttering nonsense sentences as Garcia glided back over to her seat.

"This dude's goin' down," she purred as she cracked her fingers and got to typing, her hands literally flying over the keyboard.

* * *

><p>The Game Keeper smirked as he leaned back in his chair, watching the replay of the first Game. It gave him a warm feeling in the pit of his stomach as he saw all of his hard work and planning going exactly the way he wanted.<p>

Humming a happy tune, he focused his attention on the other screens. He gave each person's scared face appreciative glances. It reminded him of how his father looked as he beat the older man's face in.

Ah, memories, memories.

He could remember every second of that wondrous day. His mommy hadn't made his eggs the right way. She always didn't cook them right, no matter how many times he told her how to do it properly.

"Here you go, honey," she had hummed as she set the plate in front of him.

The annoying woman always did that. Humming day in and day out. Of course, that was the habit he had to pick up from her.

He decided he couldn't take it anymore.

He picked up the knife that was always by his Daddy's place at the table. While she was turned around-humming incessantly, as usual-he toddled out of his chair and jammed the knife above her thigh. Blood came squirting out of it, a few drops landing onto the side of his face and clothes.

Mommy let out a horrified howl of pain and dropped to her knees. Almost immediately the five-year-old started stabbing her repeatedly all across her torso, effectively stopping her screaming. The white tile on the floor turned such a pretty shade of pink.

And then it turned even more fun. Daddy had shown up earlier than he was supposed to, expecting to surprise his doting family. He had a bouquet of white lillies and a new toy truck for his son to play with.

What he had come home to, though, was Mommy's intestines hanging around the kitchen like a crude form of holiday decorations, and what was left of her mangled form spread around the floor. He had screamed and bawled his eyes out like a wimp. It upset the little toddler even more than he already was.

So he gave Daddy the same treatment as Mommy.

The police came knocking a half hour later. Apparently, the neighbors had heard shouts coming from the house. When he opened the door, with his overalls stained with blood and bits of muscle, the two police officers looked ready to spill their lunch out onto the sidewalk.

"Mommy and Daddy died-ed," the five-year-old had say matter-of-factly.

The Game Keeper sat back into his chair again and smiled fondly, folding his hands behind his head.

Memories, memories.

* * *

><p>The sun was just starting to rise over the forest.<p>

Trip was leaning against the wall next to a small window that overlooked the forest. Lucky for him, he hadn't had to deal with any Games yet. Though, by the way the Game Keeper had talked to him last, that would be changed very soon.

He let his head loll to the side and shook it a couple of times. He didn't know if he should be happy to be able to get his Games over with, or to be in the corner whimpering like a frightened child. He wanted to do the latter, but his pride refused to let him.

Trip went back to scanning the forest, hoping against all hope that someone would appear and save him and—

Wait. Was that just a flash he saw?

His gaze snapped back onto the part of the foliage he had seen it and strained his eyes for it. But to no avail. It must have been the light bouncing off of the leaves oddly or his mind playing tricks on him.

Sliding down into a sitting position, Trip finally allowed himself to fall into an uneasy sleep. He had to keep up his strength if he wanted to be the winner of the next Game. His eyelids drooped shut. Within seconds, he was in a deep, dreamless sleep.

* * *

><p>The camera hit the cement with a satisfying sound.<p>

Mykaela kicked it repeatedly to reveal the inside of the small device. She started rummaging through it, looking for anything that could be useful as a weapon. She almost let out a huzzah of excitement when she found a long sliver of plastic that had an extremely sharp tip. Perfect for stabbing, if need be.

Her original purpose for destroying the camera in Mykaela's room was to try and use the parts as a lock pick. That plan had been squashed by a steamroller as soon as she had stomped it to pieces.

But hey.

Help was help. And Mykaela most certainly needed all the help she could get to escape from the Dead Games.

Clicking sounds came from the door, the telltale signs that it was about to open. Mykaela hid behind the door, pressing herself as far into the wall as she could, the piece of plastic at the ready in her hand.

Melanie came in, grumbling and muttering and how her fun had been ruined but the Game Keeper—of course—had ruined it for her. As soon as she had had Eon on the ground bleeding, she just _had_ to be called away!

The image was still fresh in Melanie's mind. How Eon had been laying on her side, with her shirt torn from all of the shallow cuts the Enforcer inflicted on her…how the blood had made her shirt such a pretty crimson color…the look of absolute terror on her face…

And then, as if on cue, the Game Keeper decided to make her go do some maintenance work right as she was about to get into the teen's pants again. Ugh, the universe must really hate her for some reason.

Melanie entered the room, thinking that Mykaela would be asleep in the corner. She looked around dumbly and didn't see the beautiful college student anywhere. _Wha—_?

Mykaela slammed the makeshift weapon into the side of Melanie's neck, where it met with her shoulder.

At least, she tried to. Melanie's reflexes saved her in time. She ducked out of the way, and punched Mykaela's jaw.

The teenager cried out and stumbled back. The plastic went skittering out of her hand and across the floor, to far away for her to get. Melanie took advantage, and shoved her up against the wall. She pressed her forearm roughly against Mykaela's jaw, partially blocking her airway. Mykaela glared at her, blood trickling down the side of her mouth form the punch.

"What?" Melanie growled. "Decided to grow a back bone?"

"Better now than never," Mykaela spat out, grinning in a feral way.

Melanie laughed shortly. "Well, you're a bit too late if you were tryin' to save your Eon friend's virginity," she boasted. Mykaela's eyes clouded in confusion. The horror and recognition was like a drug to the older girl.

"You…lie," Mykaela whispered, her voice faltering.

"I would never," Melanie said with fake innocence. She licked her lips in an obscene gesture. "You shoulda heard the way she screamed. She kept on screaming for someone to help her, but no one came. It started to get annoyin.' You wouldn't believe how close I was to just slitting her throat and getting it over with. Man—"

Mykaela's vision was washed over by red. _No. _Hell. _To the _no. _This creep did _not _rape her best friend. _Whatever sympathy or pity that had stopped her from ripping this chick a new one was now sitting on the sidelines, cheering her on.

Mykaela brought her knee up and kicked Melanie between her pelvis and stomach. The girl gasped, spit and vomit flying from her mouth. She moved instinctively back, loosening her forearm from Mykaela's neck. She realized her mistake a second too late.

Mykaela threw herself at her attacker, shoving the girl to the ground so she was straddling her. She wrapped her hands around the thick neck and squeezed, feeling the satisfactory feeling of having the neck spasm around her.

"No…" Melanie wheezed out. She scratched at the hands that were slowly killing her. "Please…let me…go…"

"Why should I?" Mykaela snarled, still wearing the same grin. A grin full of malice and hatred. "You said it yourself that Eon was begging you to let her go, and you didn't do it. It simply wouldn't be fair for me not to do the same for you, no?"

Melanie's eyes bulged out of her head as her face started to turn purple form the lack of oxygen. Every cell in her body screamed for her to take a breath, but Mykaela's hands refused to let her.

Mykaela didn't let go until Melanie went completely limp. When she was, the teen quickly got off of her, breathing heavily. She wiped her hands at her jeans, trying to get rid of the feeling of Melanie's skin off of her own.

Steeling herself, she ran out into the corridor. Now, she could find everyone else and get out of there.

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><p>Cliff Hangerrrr!<p>

I pinky swear that it won't take this long again to update this. Last week was just sooooo freaking hectic and INSANELY busy D:

Auf Wiedersehen, meine Lieben~~


	9. Chapter 9

Imma horrible person...it took me so long to update this ;-;

Thank you to everyone who reviewed and favorited this! It means a lot to me.

I've had such a horrible two weeks, so I haven't had a chance to get on D: I promise I'll try not to let this happen again!

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><p>Talia and Willow, two other contestants, both sadly failed to complete the desired Game before it was done.<p>

They had to stick their hands into acid in order to get the different keys which where underneath it. The acid burnt their hands raw, eating through their skin. After only a few seconds of this torture, they were both in too much pain to finish it.

The Game Keeper let them be eaten by dogs.

He decided that he was going to get rid of all of the other contestants besides Eon and her friends. Make the watching BAU agents tense and anxious to see when the teenagers were going to show up. He imagined the way they were probably squirming and at the end of their wits. It sent thrills running up and down his spine.

Meanwhile, down where the contestants were, Josh had finished finished hyperventilating, and was now sitting in the corner, knees brought up to his chest. He was glaring daggers through his puffy eyes at the camera, which was mockingly innocent in on the wall.

Josh's hair was matted down from perspiration and dirt. His eyes were ringed with red from crying and not getting a wink of sleep. His clothes were rumpled and unkempt, which was the exact opposite of what they were usually like. In any other situation, he would've been freaking out and complaining about how messy his clothes were.

He screamed and nearly peed himself when the lock on his door creaked, signalling someone was trying to get it.

_Oh God, oh God, it's my turn to die, I'm gonna have to drink goat's blood or be burned alive, no no no no no..._

The bolt on the other side of the door came undone after horrifyingly slow amount of time. The person on the other side hide to throw their weight against it, and Josh could hear the person muttering curses. He closed his eyes and buried his face in his knees, prepared to be dragged away to his most certain death-

"Dammit, this isn't an exit."

Josh threw himself at Mykaela, pulling her into a strong enough embrace that her spine cracked. "Thank God you're here!" he bawled out, snot starting to drip out of his nose. "I was so-so scared..."

Mykaela awkwardly patted his matted hair. She hated hugs, even in a situation like this.

"We'll talk later," she said after a few moments, giving Josh time to collect himself. "We gotta find the others and get outta here."

He shakily nodded and followed her out into the dark hallway. He clung onto her arm, sniffling noisily. Mykaela jerked her arm back angrily when she felt drool or snot rubbing onto her arm from his face.

"Jesus, dude!" she hissed at him angrily. "Can't you stop crying for a few minutes until we find a way out?"

"Well, I'm sorry I'm not a psychotic girl who can easily block out trauma like this!" he retorted in a whisper-shout. He let out a small eep when she smacked him in the back of the head.

"I swear, when we get back home..." Mykaela said menacingly.

To most people, this banter would seem extremely odd and out of place for the two people. It reality, though, it was a way for the two frenemies to try and retain the smallest sliver of normality, of hope that they would get out of this place alive. Even if it scared Josh, it was a comforting action, something that was so familiar that it helped him deal with the stress he was being put through mentally.

"Do you have any idea where we are?" he asked Mykaela.

"Not a clue," she admitted. "I think somewhere in a jungle, with all the birds chirping and bugs. It's freaking hot, so maybe somewhere down south?"

Josh was as clueless as she was. That fact unnerved both of them, so they simply forced themselves to push onwards.

"Is that the way out?" he said, pointing out the next door they saw.

Mykaela pinched the bridge of her nose. "How. The hell. Should I. Know," she spoke slowly from behind her teeth. Josh gave her a sheepish look before helping her unlatch and shove open the door.

A staircase was revealed, leading up to another room.

Eon's room.

Mykaela felt her heart skip three who beats. Everything seemed to go in slow motion as Eon's battered and bruised body came into view, sprawled out on the ground.

"No way," Josh's voice faltered, a hand coming up to his mouth.

Mykaela rushed to her friend's side. "Eon? Eon! Can you hear me?" She slapped her lightly on the cheek, trying to wake her up.

Eon whimpered slightly, head turning to the side. The movement caused her to cry out in pain, and more blood to start coming out of her stomach. It took Mykaela a few seconds before it dawned on her: Eon had been stabbed. That was why there was so much blood.

"Josh!" she cried out desperately as she tore Eon's shirt away to reveal the cut. "I need your shirt-"

"But-"

"DON'T ARGUE WITH ME, YOU LITTLE PUNK!"

Josh handed his dirty shirt over hurriedly. Mykaela tore it into makeshift bandages before wrapping them as securely as she could around Eon's thin waist. The young girl twisted and let out a sob of pain, barely conscious.

"My...ka..." Eon croaked out, her throat hoarse and crackly.

"Don't try to talk," Mykaela said, her voice unusually high-pitched. Crimson liquid covered her arms from her fingertips up past her elbows, and her gray shirt was black with it by now. "S-save your energy, okay?"

"Hurts..." Eon whispered.

"I know," Mykaela said, fumbling with the bandages as she tried to tie them. "Just stay quiet, and don't you dare fall asleep on me. Eon's eyes unfocused and blinked lazily, but she didn't close them for longer than a few seconds.

"This can't be happening," Josh mumbled repeatedly, as if it was a mantra. He was holding onto Eon's weak hand in a vise, trying to give the girl some kind of relief for her pain. He rocked back and forth, shaking uncontrollably. "This can not be happening...let this be a nightmare..."

Mykaela let out a long stream of colorful swear words as the blood refused to stop. "Eon? I know it's hard, but you have to hold onto your stomach. Keep pressure on it, I'll-"

There was an animalistic roar, and then pain flared up on the back of Mykaela's skull. She yelped and was flung forward. She pressed her forearms on either side of Eon's body so she didn't fall onto the bleeding girl. Josh shied away, his eyes wide and frightened behind his glasses.

"You stupid little brat!" Melanie berated Mykaela. Blood was dripping down her forehead, and her eyes were filled with murderous intent. "Did you really think you could get away that easily?"

Mykaela opted to react instead of answer verbally. She lashed out and swiped out the older girl's legs, making her tumble to the ground. In a flash, Mykaela was on top of her and they were wresting on the ground.

While they fought, Josh bundled Eon in his arms, picking her up with surprising ease. She barely let out a groan, and her head lolled dangerously. He shifted so her head was on his shoulder, all the while trying to move around the two rolling girls on the floor. The blood from Eon's stomach smeared on his shirt, and he gagged at the metallic smell.

"Get outta here!" Mykaela yelled at Josh, straddling Melanie. Her eyes were startlingly sharp, and a line of blood was coming out of the side of her mouth.

"What about you?" Josh cried out as he stood at the top of the staircase.

"I'll keep this one busy," Mykaela spat out.

"Like hell you will!" Melanie shouted, kneeing Mykaela in the crotch.

Josh didn't need any other prodding. Trying his hardest not to jolt Eon, he made his way down the stairs and started running blindly down the hallway. The next door, to his utter relief, was the exit.

Outside was even hotter and more humid than the hallway. The sun was shaded by the trees overhead, and plants blossomed around the bases of tree trunks.

Josh didn't look back as he ran through the forest, only stopping once when he nearly tripped on a protruding branch. Eon was steadily getting worse, having more trouble keeping her eyes open and sweat pouring down her face from fever. He knew that if he didn't find help quick, she was going to die.

"Eon? _Eon?_"

He stopped running when Eon didn't respond. Her eyes were closed, and her breath was coming out in short rasps. Josh set her down against a tree, and desperately tried to wake her.

"Eon! Eon, you have to wake up!" Josh cried as he pressed down on her stomach. _There's too much blood! She's losing too much blood!_ Eon whimpered slightly, fingers twitching and breath picking up.

A warm feeling spread from the back of Josh's neck and spread throughout his body. It wasn't necessarily unpleasant, but surely wasn't expected. He couldn't feel his arms or legs, and fell down silently onto his side, rolling onto his back. His eyes unfocused and his vision went blurry, but he was still able to see the outline of people leaning over.

"This one is losing a lot of blood," a muffled voice said. _What's that accent? Australian? Yeah, I think that's it…_ Josh mused. "We'd better get her back to camp ASAP."

"Help...Eon..." Josh managed to gasp. Or, at least he hoped he did. Everything was too fuzzy for him to know exactly what he was saying. It sounded as if he was underwater to his ears, but the message got across.

"We are here to help," a deep voice said.

Josh managed to upturn his lips into a smile, heaving a huge sigh. He allowed his eyes to close, and every single one of his muscles to relax. Eon was safe. They were getting help. He could finally relax.

And then everything fell away into blackness.


	10. Chapter 10

Thank you for everyone who reviewed! *blows kisses*

Here's the next part, where Eon's past is finally revealed! ;3 I feel bad for her...but it keeps the story moving in the desired direction ."

**WARNING FOR THIS CHAPTER**: mentions of child abuse. If this subject is one that may trigger you or is something that you would prefer not to read, I would skip over most of Reid's rant to Morgan.

Mykaela spat blood out onto a nearby plant. Her clothes were torn and soaked with blood-Eon's, Melanie's and her own. She was sporting a large black eye, and was missing a tooth.

After she'd beaten Melanie's ass into the concrete ground, Mykaela had quickly left the building. At first, she tried to find where Josh and Eon had run off to, but there was no trace of where the two had gone. She opted to pick a direction and stick to it while trying not to be attacked by wild animals.

"Ow," she hissed as pain seared through her shoulder.

Mykaela gingerly moved it back and forth, testing to see what hurt. She must have twisted it while fighting with Melanie. Knowing that it wouldn't do any good to sit and sulk, she continued walking through the thick undergrowth, searching for any signs of life, or her two friends.

It must have been at least two hours later when Mykaela felt ready to give up. Her whole body ached in protest with each step, and her clothes were soaked in sweat. There wasn't a single sign of human life, and she was feeling ready to give up. It was starting to grow dark, and she could barely see the ground in front of her.

Suddenly she could see firelight twinkling in the distance. Mykaela's heart soared. Voices were calling to her, and a blinding flashlight was shone into her eyes. She looked blearily at the person in front of her, trying to decide if they were enemies or allies.

"Hey, hey!" A dark man was at her side. He was tall and muscular and had kind eyes. He reached out abruptly and grasped her shoulder-the one which was hurting. "Are you-"

Mykaela's fist connected to the side of his face, sending him tumbling back. Immediately, two soldiers had their guns drawn and were screaming at her in Swedish. She glared at them heatedly, muscles tensed and ready to run.

"Wait! Wait, she was one of the victims!"

Mykaela's eyes darted up to see more people rushing over. The man she had punched was standing back up, nursing a hurt jaw. She couldn't put her finger on it, but the youngest one seemed to look extremely familiar...

"Mykaela Saunters, correct?" one of them addressed her.

"How do you know my name?" she asked sharply, taken aback at the sound of her name.

"I'm Agent Aaron Hotchner," he said. He carefully helped her up from her crouched position on the ground. "My team and I have been working on you and your friends' case to try and find you."

"Whatever," she snapped, fear rising in the back of her throat. "Did Eon and Josh get here yet?"

"They escaped?" a girl with blond hair gasped.

Mykaela felt sick to her stomach. If they hadn't made it out of the jungle yet..._Eon's still hurt. I have to find her._

She shoved off Hotch's hand from her shoulder and started to storm back into the forest. Everyone was taken aback by her abrupt movements, unsure of how to react. Emily and Rossi were the ones to quickly follow Mykaela into the forest.

"Where're you going?" Rossi asked, trying to stop her.

"I have to go and find them," she said, staring ahead. "They could still be out there, wandering around! And it's my fault!"

"You're hurt," Emily tried to reason. "Look at all the blood you have on your shirt."

Mykaela stopped at that. She looked down at her shirt before fixing the two agents with a hard stare. Her jaw clenched and unclenched, showing her anxiety. "It's not mine," she said shortly. "It's Eon's."

Reid and Dmitri's hearts fell deep into their stomachs.

"Dear God," Rossi whispered shakily.

"She got stabbed or something!" Mykaela explained loudly, pointing into the forest. "Josh ran out with her to go find help! The blood..." Her voice cracked. "It wouldn't stop. For all I know, she could be out there still, _dying_!"

The last word rang out ominously.

Hotch turned to Dmitri. "Get your team ready," he said tersely. "We're going to comb the jungle for any signs of them."

"You heard the man!" Dmitri said, his voice oddly calm to his team. "Get ready to move out!"

"But, sir," a soldier protested, stepping forward. "It's night, and there's a chance we could get lo-"

"That wasn't a goddamn request!" Dmitri suddenly screamed at him. The soldier cowered in fear. "My _niece_ is more than likely out there, bleeding to death! How would _you _like it if the little girl you'd raised was out there? Huh?"

"I-I'm sorry, sir-" the soldier whimpered.

"Good," Dmitri snarled. "Now go get ready before I pull you off of this mission."

"Let's get you checked out," Emily said soothingly to Mykaela. She noticed that the girl was shaking, and she wrapped an arm around Mykaela's strong shoulders. "They'll find your friends, okay?"

"Yeah," Mykaela mumbled, leaning into the agent heavily as she was led into the medic's tent.

"Wait, Dmitri raised Eon?"JJ murmured to Morgan when Mykaela was out of hearing range. "But, I thought that..."

"Didn't Spencer tell you guys she's a skanky bitch?" Dmitri asked blankly, coming up and hearing the remark.

"He did, but didn't go into much detail," Morgan explained, moving his jaw around cautiously. That girl could seriously pack a punch-and that was a lot coming from someone like Morgan.

"Oh." Dmitri's eyes darkened. He didn't say anything, which drove JJ and Morgan to the end of their nerves.

"Care to elaborate?" JJ pressed.

"Later," Dmitri replied. He scratched the back of his head and walked over to the medic tent to help with the questioning of Mykaela.

JJ and Morgan shared worried looks. "Something's really not right about this," JJ pointed out darkly, biting at her lip. "Why are Spencer and Dmitri trying so hard not to talk Eon's mother?"

"I...think I might know," Morgan said slowly after a few moments. His eyes were clouded over with a emotion that JJ couldn't place. Something which disturbed her to no end. "I just hope I'm wrong," he added quietly.

"Where are you going?" JJ called after him.

"To test my theory," he responded shortly, walking purposefully towards where Reid was.

Reid was behind one of the tents, sitting on a crate with a cigarette in his shaking hands. He usually wouldn't dare touch one of those cancer sticks, but he needed something to help his frazzled nerves. Dmitri had given his brother the pack of cigarettes and lighter without so much of a question as to why his brother wanted them.

Reid let out a groan as he started relaying facts about cigarettes, taking a long drag from his third cigarette. Reid's eyes were dull as they gazed at Morgan while he teammate approached.

"What do you want, Morgan?" Reid sighed heavily. He knew the answer to that question, but he wanted to put off this conversation for as long as possible.

Morgan stopped in front of him, arms crossed. "I want to know about Eon's mom," he said. No, he didn't say it, Reid mused. Morgan _demanded_ that Reid tell him. "Spence, you gotta tell us. It could help with the case."

Reid tapped the ashes off of the end of his cigarette and onto the crate next to him. "I think you already know," he said finally, taking another long drag.

"I want to hear you say it," Morgan insisted. He sat down next to Reid, and it wasn't lost on him how the genius moved minutely away. "Come on, Spencer," he tried to reason. "You can trust me."

Reid viciously threw the butt of his cigarette onto the ground before standing up. "Fine!" he said, his voice raising. "I'll say it! Dahlia was abusive. When she wasn't beating Eon, she was ignoring her. I can't tell you how many times I had to pick Eon up at the hospital or sneak her out of her house. Why do you think I don't have a social life? It's because all of my free time's spent making sure she won't _die_!

"Spencer-" Derek tried, reaching out for him.

"Don't touch me!" Reid snarled. Morgan looked at him in shock as the genius plowed on. "No matter how many times I'd try to sue her, or get custody of Eon, she'd pull strings, and keep Eon! The only reason I have her now is because Dahlia and her got into such a huge argument that Dahlia kicked her out of the house!"

"So there you go," Reid finished. He down at the shocked man. "Happy now? _Morgan_?"

Morgan blanched at the obvious use of his last name. "I-I'm sorry, Spence," he said. "I...I needed to know."

Reid let out a bitter laugh, wiping tears out of his eyes. "Good for you," he spat out, trying to stop the sob that was rising out of his chest. "Can we go back and work on this forsaken case now?"

"Of course, pretty boy," Morgan murmured softly. "Do you want me to tell everyone else?"

"You're going to tell them anyway, no matter what I say," Reid said with more venom than he had intended. Morgan winced guiltily at that, knowing that it was the truth, no matter how much he tried to deny it.

"I'm sorry, Spence-" Morgan apologized.

"Stop!" Reid said loudly. He crossed his arms nervously, repeatedly brushing his hair behind his ear. "Stop. Don't call me that ever again. Only people who I'm actually friends with can call me that."

Morgan looked at him in disbelief. "I am your friend, pretty boy!" he tried desperately.

"According to _Agent Hotchner_, I've driven the whole team up a wall with my social awkwardness, and gossip about it behind my back. And in case I've forgotten-which, I assure you, I haven't-friends don't do that."

"How-how did you find that out?" Morgan blurted.

"I listen," Reid replied stoically. "Even when I'm blathering on." He shuddered. "I...really thought that I could trust you with not telling things to Hotch. But for once, I was wrong."

"Spencer-Reid," Morgan corrected himself with a pained heart when Reid tensed. "You can trust me."

"Sometimes," Reid murmured with his back turned to Morgan, "actions can be louder than words."

Wiping his nose with the back of his hand, Spencer walked briskly over to where his brother was to help prepare for the sweeping of the forest. Morgan stared after his teammate, his brain slowly processing the events of the last few minutes.

"Oh God," he muttered, drawing a long hand over his face. Derek Morgan had officially screwed up. Big time.

* * *

><p>Angst, angst and more angst in this chapter...^_^"<p>

I'll put up the part in the next few days. As always, please review. It only takes a second and means the world to me!

Love,

Blood Dahlia


	11. Chapter 11

Ta-Da, the next part~ :) Thank you to everyone who reviewed and read this *kisses*

* * *

><p>The radio next to Hotch crackled into life. "<em>Sir?<em>" a solder's voice came through. At Dmitri's orders, they were speaking English for the benefit of the BAU team. "_Team B reporting in._"

"Continue," Dmitri said as Hotch waved over the rest of the team. Everyone eager listened to the soldier's words as she spoke.

"_We believe we have found the target's hideout," _she supplied. "_It is a building approximately four kilometers away from camp, with only small windows. We can hear screaming coming from inside. Permission to enter?_"

"Give us your coordinates," Dmitri said as the BAU team quickly started putting on bulletproof vests and preparing to leave. After the soldier had told her superior the requested information, he said gruffly, "We will be there in about six minutes. Hold your position until then and wait for additional orders."

"_Yes, sir._"

"_Let's go!" _Dmitri ordered sharply in Swedish to the soldiers hurrying around camp. "_Move it, or I'll make sure you'll be cleaning the bathrooms for the rest of your lives_!"

"You found them?" Mykaela asked Emily eagerly, stopping the girl by grabbing her shoulders. She had taken a bath to wash off all of the blood, and had been given a pair of JJ's clothes, since they were about the same size. "Are they okay?"

"It's too soon to tell," Emily replied as she finished putting on the bulletproof vest. "But I promise I'll call you when we have them secured."

Mykaela nodded her head, biting her lip. She watched as everyone finished getting ready, feeling anxious and useless for not being able to help with anything. Mykaela was still woozy from the pain medication the medic had given her, and the BAU team and Dmitri had forbade her from joining them in the mission.

Only a few soldiers were to be left in the camp. Two were stationed by the monitors in order to watch for any new Games, and three were patrolling and guarding the camp. Mykaela succumbed to the drowsy power of the pain pills, and started dozing off in the med bay.

"Is your team ready?" Dmitri asked as Hotch came up to him.

Hotch nodded grimly. Dmitri called out to his team in Swedish and they all entered the jungle.

* * *

><p>Becka groaned as she slowly returned to her senses. Her whole body ached from an unknown source of pain, and she couldn't move any of her limbs. She groggily raised her head slightly. <em>What...<em>?

Her mind was immediately brought out of its sleep-induced haze. Becka was tied spread-eagled on a table, her legs and arms bound by thick rope that rubbed her ankles and wrists raw. Above her was a pendulum, which was ominously still about ten feet above her stomach.

"Help!" Becka screamed. "Somebody, _help me_!"

"Becka?"

She looked over in shock to see the faces of Trip and Dondae, who were in two different cages made out of metal bars. Both of their hands were tied together in front of them, allowing them limited movement of their arms. Swinging lazily from side to side above them were large, black squares of metal, each hanging from thick rope. They were both obviously heavy, and if they came crashing down the boys would be dead.

"What's going on?" she cried out to them, struggling against her bonds. "Why're we tied up? Get me offa this thing!"

"Hold on, it'll be okay!" Trip tried to soothe her while trying to tear apart the rope with his teeth.

"Good evening, contestants," the Game Keeper's voice came through the speaker, the same calm and even tone as the other times. "It's good to see you're all finally awake. We can now move onto the next Game.

"All of you must have noticed by now the pendulum above Contestant Becka, and the blocks of metal above both of you. Each one weighs one hundred and fifty pounds. The three of you have a choice of who must die and the two who will live. Contestants Dondae and Trip, if either of you decide that you want Contestant Becka to die, you must push the blocks up as high as you can. The pendulum will fall, slicing her in half. If either of you decide that you'd like to be the one to die, you must simply let the block crush you to death.

"This one has no time limit," he continued. "It will end when one of you is dead. No sooner, no later. The Game starts now. Good luck." The speaker clicked off.

As soon as the Game Keeper stopped talking, the blocks slowly lowered themselves. Trip and Dondae awkwardly shifted so the weight of the blocks were on their shoulders. The weight made Dondae try to straighten up as much as he could.

"Dude, dude!" Becka shrieked as the pendulum dropped dramatically down. Out of reflex, she sucked in her stomach, making her rib bones protrude sharply through her flushed skin and shirt.

"Go back down!" Trip called out desperately, trying to make up for the difference by ducking low.

Dondae quickly bent his back, making the uncomfortably heavy weight drop lower towards the ground. His legs shook at the pressure, but to their relief, the pendulum went back up and away from Becka's stomach. They all let out long sighs of relief, but that feeling was short lived as the boys' muscles started to groan in protest under the unbearable weight.

"I don't think I can hold on for much longer," Trip grunted, sweat dripping down his forehead.

"I'll let go," Dondae said decisively, panting slightly.

"No!" Trip and Becka yelled at him simultaneously.

The three argued rapidly over each other for the next five minutes, trying to convince the other two about why they should be the one to die. None of them wanted to have to watch their friend die.

"Let me do it," Becka finally said in a strangled tone. She closed her eyes tightly. "I'm...I'm going to have to die soon anyway, so I might as well to this now."

"Wh-what do you mean?" Trip managed to say, his voice strangled as his back dropped an inch.

Becka swallowed, her voice suddenly dry. "No one else knows this," she murmured. "But a few months ago, my doctor told me I had a tumor in my brain."

"You're lying!" Dondae said. "You're just trying to get us to let you-"

"Why do you think I was gone for so long and then was so weak when I came back?" Becka broke in. "I was lying when I said that I went to Canada for vacation. I...had a surgery that tried to remove the tumor. It turns out it was too big for them to remove. I only have another month or two to live, so I might as well die now!"

The last word rang out through the room. Dondae and Trip stared at her, breaths pained as they had to deal with the weight of their friend's confession and the block of metal, crushing their backs.

"Are you just saying that?" Trip finally said. "Don't lie to us, Becka. Tell us the truth."

"I'm not lying," Becka mumbled, tears slipping out of the corners of her eyes. "When you get out of here, talk to my doctor. He'll show you the X-rays." The boys still remained silent. "Please. Let me have control of how I die. I've had to deal with not knowing if tomorrow would be my last day for months."

Trip and Dondae started to cry. They couldn't help it. "I'm so, so sorry," Trip blubbered to Becka.

"I love you, Bebe," Dondae sniffled, using the nickname he had for her.

"I love you, too, Don," she said, giving him a wide, sad smile.

Trip covered his mouth with his bound hands as he started to count off. "Three..."

Becka closed her eyes, taking deep, shuddering breaths. She tensed all of her muscles, preparing for the worst. Trip and Dondae braced their shoulders in a more comfortable position, sobs wracking their bodies.

"Two..."

Becka had never been a very religious. The house she grew up in was Catholic, but very loose and didn't go to church very much. She had probably only gone to church about a dozen times in her life time. But now, she mumbled a long prayer, desperate for some kind of comfort in her final seconds of life.

"One."

Trip and Dondae shoved their shoulders up, making the pendulum come crashing down. Becka gasped in shock as in landed square in her stomach. Blood squirted out of her stomach and started dribbling out of her mouth. She choked on the blood, her body jerking spasmodically against the bonds holding her down.

Her movements started to slow, and then stopped all together. Becka let out one last wheezy breath, before the life left here body.

The weights that had been weighing down Trip and Dondae were reeled back into the ceiling, the sounds of gears clicking.

"Good job," the Game Keeper praised. "I must say, though, that it was much faster than I expected. I was hoping for a much more…prolonged show."

"YOU DISGUSTING FREAK!" Dondae screamed, tears running down his face. "WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR PROBLEM? WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO US?"

"These questions are none that I shall answer, Contestant Dondae," the Game Keeper chuckled. "That would take away all of the fun, now wouldn't it?"

Before Trip could start in with his response, the obnoxiously loud sound of metal clanking against concrete bounced off of the walls. The Game Keeper and the two Contestants all froze and listened. There was the sound of many shoes pounding against the ground, and someone whispering, "Clear" every so often.

Trip and Dondae started yelling for whoever was in the hallway, trying to get their attention.

The Game Keeper's heart pounded in his chest. _No_! _This wasn't supposed to happen, goddammit! How did they find me?_

He stood up from his chair too fast, resulting in him falling onto the ground. He grunted weakly, groping for his cane. He used it to help himself back to his feet, and he started limping rapidly towards the door. When he was only a few feet away, the door burst open and Swedish soldiers all came in, weapons aimed at him.

"Freeze!"

The Game Keeper growled darkly as he was forced onto his knees, Hotch and Morgan roughly putting the handcuffs on.

"You sick bastard," Morgan snarled in his ear. "You're gonna regret you were ever born, you disgusting freak."

The Game Keeper was shoved up only his feet and was dragged out of the room.

* * *

><p>Cliff-hangarrrr~~~<p>

As usual, plz review :) means a lot to meee~


	12. Chapter 12

I'm baaackkkkk~~

And first thing's first: I'M SOSOSOSOSOSOSOSO SORRYYYY THIS TOOK SO LONGGG! I swear to the Gods it won't ever take this long again! I don't even have an excuse why it took so long. I'm just lazy :'(

If it's any consolation, I have the next chapters already drafted out (huzzah!) so I should have them up either every day or every other day.

Onward ho!

* * *

><p>"Willheim Stratson."<p>

Hotch threw the notebook distastefully onto the table, looking tired and gaunt. He looked through the two-way mirror into the interrogation room.

"Grew up in Canada," Emily said shortly, head in her hands. "Exact origins unknown. Was charged for years ago with three charges of rape and assault with a fire arm, but slipped under the radar before his court date. The only times he's popped up was once in Vancouver at a gas station and then another time up in Quebec for"-a shudder-"chainsaws."

"And he's still not speaking?" Rossi said. His tie was loose and the top buttons of his shirt was unbuttoned. "Nothing at all?"

"No," Hotch growled. "Only that he wants to talk with one of the victims. He says that he'll tell everything to them-even where Eon and Josh are." A silence fell over them, each immersed in their own thoughts.

After a few seconds, Rossi hesitantly asked, "How's Reid doing?"

"He's at the hospital with the victims," Hotch said. "I sent him there to hopefully get some rest." His voice went from its normal hard tone to a slightly softer one. "He hasn't slept in days. He'll pass out the way he's going." Rossi put a comforting hand on his shoulder, giving a small squeeze.

Willheim stared stoically ahead at the wall of the room, refusing to acknowledge the Swedish guards standing next to him. Across the table from him was Morgan and JJ, who were also quiet. They were at a loss of what to say to try and persuade him to speak.

"You're all missing a big piece of the puzzle."

They blinked rapidly and turned their gazes to Willheim, who was still staring at the wall. "What do you mean by that?" JJ asked in the most conversational tone she could manage.

"You're all missing a big piece," Willheim repeated in the same monotone. "You and your team all think that you've won. that you've captured the mastermind. That you've cut off the head of the snake."

"Well, we have," Morgan blurted out, anger raging inside of him. "You were the one in control of the whole thing. Melanie's too stupid to do anything by herself. That's how you got her to do your goddamn _bidding_. How you got her to fucking _rape _a teenage, innocent girl." He internally cringed at the last sentence, memories of his...'experiences' with Carl Buford rising up unbidden.

Willheim's eyes moved to pierce him. A nasty smile spread over his face, showing off his rotting teeth. "You're all so stupid. You don't seriously think that I haven't planned for this?" He leaned forward.

"I've been two steps ahead of you the whole time. I made sure that my assistant knew what to do. She's been ordered to carry on the Games until everyone's dead. Obviously"-he moved his wrist fluidly-"she can't take on all of the guards you have on Trip and Dondae in the hospital."

"He's definitely a narcissist," Emily said on the other side of the glass. "Look at his body language. He's trying to intimidate and insult them."

"Then maybe we should pull Morgan out of there," Rossi said with a frown. "Knowing his alpha male qualities, he'll start to feel that his masculinity is being challenged."

"It's too late now," Hotch said. "We finally have the unsub talking, and we can't afford to change the environment and have him stop. Let's just hope that Morgan can stay professional." The other two agreed and went back to talking notes and observing.

"But she won't be able to find the other two," JJ shot out. "They're in the jungle."

"Ah-ah-ah," he chuckled. "I'm still one step ahead of you. I had transmitters placed in their bodies."

Immediately the trio behind the glass was a flurry of action.

"Rossi," Hotch barked. "Call Garcia and get her to hack into the unsub's computers and locate the transmitters. Tell Dmitri to get another team ready to go back into the jungle." Rossi was already pulling out his phone and stepping out.

She answered on the first ring. "Have you found them?" Garcia shrieked.

"Not yet," Rossi said impatiently. "But we have a lead. Hack into Stratson's computers and try to find anything about transmitters or GPS. He put trackers in their bodies, and we can use them to find them."

"Already one it," Garcia said hurriedly. She was too busy to to try and add any of her usual nicknames before she hung up.

JJ was caught between feelings of relief and horror. The trackers meant that now they could find Josh and Eon, wherever they were. But that also meant that Melanie could find them, too.

"You've all basically signed Josh's and Eon's death warrants," Willheim continued. "_I _was the one who was holding Melanie in check. If I'm not there..." His words trailed off ominously, and he grinned, a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Well, from what I've heard, our little Eon's gonna have some very sore hips for awhile."

"I think I'm gonna be sick," Emily choked, rushing out of the room with her hand over her mouth. Rossi followed after her, an excuse to get out of the suddenly stifling room.

Morgan's breathing picked up, flashes of Carl Buford filling his mind. _The pain...the hands groping across his body...feeling so weak..._

"-I swear, the things Melanie had planned would make a professional S and M porn star blush."

Before he knew what he was doing, Morgan knocked his chair onto the ground and punched Willheim across the face. The older man's face was wrenched to the side at the impact, a large, angry red mark on his face. He nursed it with a slight look of surprise as Morgan screamed at it.

"Shut the hell up you disgusting bastard!" he roared as the guards dragged him away. "Stop talking about Eon like she's just some sex object for that nasty rapist to play with as she wants, goddammit!"

Willheim smiled mirthlessly and watched Morgan be dragged out. "It was nice talking to you," he taunted. "And don't worry, I won't sue."

JJ finally decided that she also had had enough and left the room.

* * *

><p>"So, you're the elusive uncle," Dondae said as Reid sat down next to Mykaela's hospital bed.<p>

The room was a bright white. There was only one bed, which Mykaela was occupying, and a window was open, allowing a humid breeze into the room. Dondae and Trip were sprawled out in chairs, covered in various bruises and band-aids. There was one empty chair, and Reid hesitantly sat down in it.

"Uh, yeah," Reid mumbled under the scrutiny of the three teenagers. "Um, I'm guessing your Dondae?"

"Yup." Dondae ran a tongue over his teeth, crossing his arms.

"And where were you all last week?" Mykaela asked sweetly. Her mouth was turned into a smile, but her eyes were murderous. "Hm?"

"Uh, er, working," Reid stuttered lamely.

"Yeah, you're a profiler," Dondae said, stroking his whiskered chin. He tilted his head up, scowling darkly.

Reid nodded shortly, which seemed to be the wrong thing to do. Dondae's jaw tightened, and Mykaela's eye twitched. Trip just sighed heavily and ran a long hand over his face tiredly as Mykaela started screaming at him.

"You son of a whore, stop acting so calm!" she screamed at him. The machine monitoring her heartbeat skyrocketed. "It's mostly your goddamn fault that Eon's somewhere in freakin' la-la land!"

Reid felt a twinge of indignation, feeling the need to defend himself. "I th-thought that it was your fault," he retorted. "You're the one who led her out into...the...jungle...?"

"Motherfucker!" she screamed, a vein pulsing in her neck. "I swear to god, if I wasn't stuck in this fucking bed, I would punch that smartassiness right outta you! How DARE you try and blame this shit on me! If you'd been at home or actually _paying attention to her_ instead of diddling around in god-knows-where, none of us would be in this situation!"

While Mykaela ranted, Reid didn't even try to stop her. And why should he? It was all true. If he had stayed back from this mission, he would have been able to fight off the kidnapper or shoot him. At the very least he would have been able to call the cops sooner, before Willheim and Melanie had left the country.

Dondae stood up and stormed over to Reid. He leaned forward and started roaring in the genius's face.

"Did you even hear about the locker room incident? Huh?"

Reid looked at him in confusion. "What locker ro-"

"Course he hasn't," Mykaela spat, letting out a bark of laughter.

Dondae was all too happy to inform the genius. "Before the kidnap, Melanie showed up and jumped Eon! The 'Game Keeper' or whatever he calls himself stopped her, but do you know how fuckin' scared she was when I found her? Huh? She was having a panic attack! And do you know why she didn't wanna tell you? BECAUSE YOU WERE WORKING!"

Dondae threw up his hands and stormed out of the room, his whole face red.

"That's enough," Trip cut in before Mykaela could continue. "Can't you see that he's had enough?"

Reid was at a loss. Tears were starting to run down his cheeks, and he rested his head in his hands.

"I-I had no idea," he whispered. "If only I had-oh God. This is all my fault. I should've been a better guardian. I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry."

Mykaela had this thing. She had no idea where she had gotten it from, but for as long as she could remember she had had the most annoying habit. When she saw grown men cry, she started to cry, too. At the sight of the crystalline tears falling from Reid's eyes, her own eyes started to water.

At the first sight of Mykaela's tears, Trip knew that it was his time to leave. Crying people just made him feel awkward.

"Uh, I'm gonna go find Dondae or…something," he excused himself, hurrying out of the room.

"Goddammit, you moron," she sobbed. "You're such a retard! Git over here and gimme a hug!"

Reid didn't care if it looked odd for a grown man to be crying on the shoulder of a teenage girl. He hugged her as tightly as he dared, and she did the same.

"You even ignore her once and I'll stab you," she bawled out. "I don't give a shit if I end up in jail."

"If I do, then I give you every right to stab me," Reid let out a watery laugh, squeezing her one more time before letting Mykaela go.

He sat down in Trip's vacant seat. To his surprise and discomfort, Mykaela grabbed onto his hand. As politely as he could, he tried to extract his hand from hers. She grabbed onto it with a deathgrip.

"I'm trying to be nice, asshole."

Reid sighed and stopped trying to pull back.

* * *

><p>It took Trip awhile to find Dondae. He ended up having to ask three nurses, who all barely spoke English—he'd never been so glad that his parents had forced those Portuguese classes on him—before he found his friend's location.<p>

Dondae was sitting in the cafeteria, biting his fist and squinting his eyes shut. Everyone who was in there was giving him a wide birth, giving him a few nervous glances.

Trip stopped next to Dondae's table, hands in his pockets.

"Damn, dude, you're scaring the whole place. Lighten up a bit."

Dondae didn't even look at him. "Shut up, dickhead," he muttered, running a hand through his hair.

Trip sat across from him, resting his head in a hand. He didn't say anything until Dondae stopped biting his fist and actually looked up.

"He's such a…such a…"

Dondae snarled and slammed his head on the table. A nearby girl yipped and skittered away, but Trip was so used to Dondae's temper tantrums that he didn't even flinch.

"I know," he sighed. "But I'm pretty sure that Mr. Reid got the idea." Dondae grunted in response.

Trip poked his shoulder. "Hey, I don't like talking to the top of people's heads." Poke. "Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey—"

"Dammit, wha-a-a-t?" Dondae growled, moving so he was on his chin. "I'm thinking."

"I'm not gonna let you think about how you wanna hurt Mr. Reid."

"Why do you call him Mr. Reid?" Dondae grumbled. "He don't deserve that kinda respect."

"Uh, he basically saved our asses," Trip objected, frowning.

"Yeah? Well, he didn't save Becka's."

At the mention of his friend's name, Trip felt his heart start to crack. He quickly pulled himself together, pushing away his own sadness. He sighed, putting a hand on Dondae's shoulder.

"It was her decision, Dondae," he said seriously. "He couldn't have done anything, dude. Think about it. No one could've."

He didn't respond for awhile. "I miss her," he finally said.

Trip looked out the window, his hand still on Dondae's shoulder. "I miss her, too," he admitted. "I miss her, too."

* * *

><p>Hehe, I thought that was a good place to end ;D<p>

The next chapter with be mostly from Josh's point of view. And YES! There's more gore! :D


	13. Chapter 13

*Le gasp* I updated again! 8D

Thank you to everyone who favorited and reviewed this story-or even just read it :-) It means sooo much to me! Seriously! *glomps*

So this chapter's pretty long (to me xD) to make up for the infrequent posts. There's mentions of rape, so if you're squeamish about that, be warned.

* * *

><p>Reid had nearly started to cry when Hotch had informed him that he and Morgan would be escorting the three teenagers back into the states.<p>

Hotch wouldn't say it out loud, but he was truly worried about his youngest agent. He would barely eat, barely sleep, and refused to talk to anybody. He was concerned that Reid would end up working himself into either a coma or death. He wouldn't allow the genius to work on the case unless it was absolutely necessary.

Reid sat in the far corner of the plane, staring out of the window. They were on the BAU's private plane, and they were all doing different things. Morgan was trying to zone out and listen to his music, while Mykaela was immersed in her thoughts and Dondae and Trip played cards.

In Reid's lap was an unopened letter, written by his brother. Reid reluctantly admitted that he was terrified to open it and read its contents. Five times throughout the course of the flight, he had started to open it, but then chickened out at the last minute and set it back down.

"Oi."

Reid blinked a few times and looked up at Mykaela who was standing next to him with her arms crossed.

"Um, yes?" he asked as she threw herself into the chair next to him.

"I can't sleep," she responded shortly.

Reid responded blandly, "I don't see how that's my problem, Mykaela."

She shrugged, relaxing into the chair. Reid sighed and tried to ignore her presence.

"Whatcha got there?" Mykaela asked, chucking her head at the letter in Reid's hands.

"A note from my brother," Reid said vaguely. He quickly put it into his bag before Mykaela could try and take it from him. She pouted, and he knew that he had guessed right in his assumption.

"Was your brother there?" Mykaela questioned, fiddling with her nails.

"Yeah," Reid responded reluctantly. "He was Dmitri. The tall one?"

"Whoa, you two look, like, nothing alike," Mykaela cried out quietly, hands flapping in emphasis. In the process, she accidentally jarred her bandaged shoulder. "Ow," she winced.

"Is-is your shoulder hurting you?" Reid asked, moving so his body faced her.

"Just a lil'," She responded flippantly.

"I can help, um, if you'd like," he offered. "Since you can't have your pain medication for another two hours."

_Eh, why not,_ she thought, and let Reid poke and prod around her tender shoulder. "Ow, how is this supposed to—ohhhhh." Her eyes rolled back into her skull as all of the pain evaporated.

Reid's lips twitched into a small smile. "It's a pressure point," he responded. "I, ah, find they help when I get hurt out in the field or by my own, ah, stupidity." He earned a laugh from her.

He stifled a yawn a few minutes later, after he was done helping Mykaela.

"Dude, you needa sleep," she said, looking at his face uncomfortably close. "You have really bad bags under your eyes."

"I, ah, have had insomnia my whole life," he explained awkwardly. "I, um, can't really choose when I sleep."

"Oh, that sucks," she said sympathetically. "I couldn't live without sleep. It's my secret lover." Reid didn't even try to start to explain the complications of that statement.

"Well, I'm gonna sleep," she said, and nuzzled up against his shoulder.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," he stuttered, trying to slide out of her grip. "Wh-what are you doing?"

"You're warm and comfy," she stated. "And don't worry about me crushin' on you and stuff, 'cuz Imma lesbian. You're most certainly not my type. G'night! Wake me when we land!" And with that, she was out, lightly snoozing on his shoulder.

Reid shook his head slightly and leaned it against the window. He found himself drifting off to sleep, lulled by the sounds of the plane's engine and his own exhaustion. The days he had stayed awake came back like a bitch, slapping him in the face repeatedly until he couldn't form a complete sentence in his head.

He allowed himself to drift off into an uneasy slumber...

* * *

><p>Josh's head pounded rhythmically as he started to come back to the world of the conscious. A trail of drool led down his cheek into a puddle by his ear, and his eyes had light circles under them from lack of sleep. His glasses were no longer on his face, and his clothes now simply consisted of a pair of slacks that were a size too big and a large white shirt.<p>

There was a prodding at his side. Josh groaned loudly. "Trip, go 'way," he slurred. "'s not time to 'wake up."

Another prod.

"Triiiip," he whined, trying to wave away the offending object.

"I'm not Trip."

A deep male voice spoke. One that most definitely didn't belong to Trip.

Josh's eyes flew open. Since he didn't have his glasses, all he could see of the man looming over him was a big dark shadow. He let out a very unmanly shriek and scrambled into an upright position, immediately regretting it when blood rushed out of his head, making him see spots. He groaned and swayed dangerously.

"Whoa, slow down there," the accented voice said, followed by a hand on Josh's shoulder. "You should not move so suddenly."

Josh jerked away with more force than necessary, his whole body moving with his shoulder. It ended with him banging his head hard against the wall behind him. Plaster cracked off of the concrete wall, sprinkling down onto the bed. His eyes rolled back into his skull and he slumped forward.

The man-Aleixio Alcazar-swore in Portuguese, shaking Josh slightly. "Hoi, can you hear me? _Menino_ (boy)!"

Josh only moaned. Aleixio maneuvered him until he was lying down on the small bed, head lolling. He felt around Josh's head, frowning slightly when he felt a large bump starting to form. His eyes weren't the greatest in the dim light, and sat down on the edge of the bed. Aleixio crouched over him, trying to examine the bump.

Of course, right then Josh decided to open his eyes again, and was greeted by a pair of crystalline eyes and an unshaven, tanned face. He tried to jerk up again, which ended with his lips crashing onto Aleixio's.

They both pulled away, faces starting to flush in embarrassment.

"What the hell, man!" Josh croaked out while Aleixio sat up.

"I could ask you the same," Aleixio growled, his accent more pronounced because of him being flustered. "You are the one who kissed me!"

"Screw you!" the college student replied, his voice starting to go high-pitched. "Where am I? Wai-where's Eon? Is she okay? What's going on? Who are you? Why-"

"Calm down," Aleixio said in confusion, holding up his hands. "One question at a time, please."

Josh forced his breathing to slow down as Aleixio continued. "My name is Aleixio Alcazar," he said. "Do not be alarmed, I will not-what is the word?-_harm_ you. A few of my men found you and your small female friend by our camp, and our medics have been helping you back to health."

"Men, medics, _what-_?"

"I am the leader of a band of...hired guns," Aleixio explained patiently, trying to soothe the teenage boy before he pushed himself into a panic attack.

"L-like mercenaries?" Josh stuttered.

Aleixio tilted his head to the side slightly, debating. "Eh, close enough," he said, knowing that the real answer would more than likely scare him to death. "You are in our base, in my private room."

"Yeah, okay, whatever," Josh said, not even trying to wrap his brain around the information given to him. A thought brought a hammer down on his head. "Where's Eon? The girl!" he added when he saw Aleixio's look of confusion.

"She is still in the medical wing," Aleixio soothed. "She has been healed and is now resting. She has been asleep for the day you have been here."

Josh sighed in relief, feeling like a great weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. He had made it in time. He hadn't expected help to come in the form of mercenaries, but hey-help was help. You couldn't be picky when your best friend was about to die.

"Can I see her?" Josh asked, pulling off the blankets.

"Not yet," Aleixio said. "You must first come with me and answer a few questions."

"I want to see Eon first," he said, a hint of a whine in his voice. He stood up slowly, his back letting out a string of satisfactory pops.

"In time you will," Aleixio assured him. "But there would be no point in doing it now, considering she is still asleep."

Josh reluctantly gave in, realizing that he didn't have much say in the matter. His battered red Converse sat next to the bed, and he tied them on. He looked around, squinting his eyes, trying to find his glasses.

"Here," Aleixio said, holding out Josh's glasses.

"Uh, thanks," Josh mumbled, putting them on. He sighed in relief as he was finally able to see.

"I forgot to ask," Aleixio said as they exited the room. "What is your name?"

"Josh," he responded, trying to get rid of the sleep in his limbs.

Aleixio led him through two long hallways. They passed a few men, who all stared at Josh oddly and muttered things to each other in hushed Portuguese. They made Josh feel even more awkward than he usual did.

The room that Aleixio led Josh into was a plain office, with three other men lounging around. Each one was obviously a seasoned fighter, with muscles and scars running across their skin.

"Gentleman," Aleixio said in greeting to them. "This is Josh, one of our guests. Josh, this is Shake, Lee and Barry."

"Aboot time 'e woke up," Shake complained in a Scottish accent.

"Shut up, Shake," Lee said, typing with nimble fingers something on a laptop. "It's rude to yell at people when you first meet them."

"When has he ever been polite?" Barry chuckled lazily, toying with a sharp knife.

"...Good point," Lee said, closing his laptop. "Anyhow," he said loudly before Shake could start yelling. "Tell us your story, Josh."

Josh told them the story of how he and his friends had been kidnapped by two psychotic people and then forced to do horrible tasks or be killed or brutally maimed. While he spoke, the men listened closely, eyes trained on him. Only occasionally did they ask questions, like who his friends were or any other clarification questions.

"So, uh, yeah," Josh finished lamely, running a hand through his unruly hair. "...Ta da?"

"I tell ya, kid, you've been through one helluva ride," Barry said, shaking his head in disbelief.

The teenager laughed shortly. "Excuse the bluntness, but no shit."

"Do ye know what 'appened to tha others?" Shake asked, stroking his unshaven face thoughtfully.

Josh sadly shook his head. "I really have no clue," he informed them. "I only know for sure that Mykaela got out. I think that the others may have found a way out, but I still don't know."

"Do you at least know the general direction you came from?" Lee tried. "We can try to send a few people out over there to check out the area..." His voice trailed off when Josh sheepishly shook his head again. "Well, shit."

"What do you say, Bossman?" Barry asked Aleixio, putting his knife back into his pocket. "Should we send people out to look for them?"

Aleixio didn't respond for a few seconds. He uncrossed his arms and pushed himself off of the desk. "We'll talk about it later," he said. "Lee, see if you can hack into the FBI's database and see if they have anything about them."

"You got it," Lee nodded as he reopened his laptop.

Josh blinked rapidly. "Uh, hack the FBI?" he asked tentatively.

"Yeah," Lee said, looking up at him. "Why?"

"Isn't that kinda, y'know, illegal?"

They all stared at him with matching black faces. "So?" Shake asked.

While Josh tried to stutter out a response, Barry cut in. "Do you wanna know if your friends made it out or not?" he said. Josh put his hands up in defeat, his wants winning over his morales.

"I'll take you now to your friend," Aleixio offered, moving towards the door.

Josh's eyes immediately lit up with a mixture of eagerness, excitement and relief. He closely followed Aleixio out of the room, leaving the other three to think about and discuss his story.

Eon's room was small, with bright white pain on the walls. The windows were open, allowing a gentle breeze to waft in. Eon herself was laying underneath a thin white blanket, body covered in bandages, bruises and minor cuts. Her lashes cast dark shadows on her cheeks, and her body moved minutely up and down with each breath she took.

Josh let out a shuddering sigh when he saw her. A smile broke over his face and he quickly sat down next to her on the bed.

"How long will she stay asleep?" Josh asked softly, holding her hand carefully.

"The sleeping pills Mama Nina gave her should keep her out for another two hours," Aleixio said, pulling out a cigarette from one of his pockets and lighting it. "Cigarette?"

"I don't smoke," Josh declined, watching the smoke that started to puff out of the mercenary's mouth.

"Who's Mama Nina?" he asked. At the end of the last word, the door bust open and there was a loud shriek.

A plump, middle-aged woman started shrieking angrily at Aleixio in Portuguese pointing at the cigarette. Before the man could say anything, she snatched the cigarette out of his fingers and stomped it out on the ground.

Josh watched the lady scream at Aleixio, making him apologize rapidly and shrink sheepishly. It was amusing to see such a big man shrink in fear because of such a small little lady.

Another lady, this one in her twenties, came in, rolling her eyes at them. She had a basin under her arm, along with clean bandages. She nodded politely to Josh before setting the items down on the bedside table and rolling up her sleeves.

"Vad händer?"

Everyone whipped around to see Eon eyeing Aleixio and Mama Nina with sleep-ridden blue eyes. Mama Nina immediately turned her attention away from Aleixio and started cooing to Eon, fluffing her pillows and checking her bandages. When Josh got in her way she growled-literally _growled_-at him, which sent him scrabbling off the bed.

The two nurses seemed to completely forget about the boys as the young one started to pull Eon's shirt up over her head.

"Out, out!" Mama Nina screeched, noticing the two boys were still there. She grabbed their shirts and shoved them bodily out of the room with surprising strength. Josh stumbled slightly, and Aleixio steadied him as the door was slammed shut.

"Uh, sorry about her," Aleixio apologized awkwardly. "She's very...strong-willed, I think it is called?"

"I can tell," Josh muttered, looking mournfully at the door. Dammit, as soon as Eon had woken up, he just had to be shoved out of the room by an angry Brazilian lady!

"Sooo," Aleixio said, rubbing his hands together nervously. "Would you like me to get you something to drink or eat?" Josh's stomach rumbled happily at the prospect of food, answering for its owner. "I will take that as a yes," he laughed, and led Josh to the dining hall.

* * *

><p>Eon tried to hide her body shyly as the nurses examined her. Both of them cooed in Portuguese to her, trying to soothe her as they unwrapped the bandages to clean her cuts.<p>

"Can you tell me your name?" the young one said in English, smiling brightly.

"It's, um, Eon," she mumbled, her voice barely over a squeak. "Reid. Uh, Eon Reid."

"That is a pretty name," she complimented. Eon's ears flushed in embarrassment. "I'm Tali, and that's Mama Nina. We're going to take care of you, okay? We just need you to relax and not move."

Eon winced and hissed when Mama Nina prodded an especially tender spot on her hip. Mama Nina frowned, and muttered something under her breath. She motioned for Eon to take off the khakis she had been given.

Eon felt fear bubble up in her stomach at the sudden vulnerability she felt with her pants gone. Memories of Melanie made her heart rate pick up, but Tali's shushes and gentle hands kept them at bay.

Mama Nina's breath caught in her throat as she finally saw the extent of Eon's injuries. Her hands shook ever so slightly as she parted Eon's legs further.

"Someone...make you?" Mama Nina asked in broken English, gesturing to Eon's splayed legs.

A tear ran down one of Eon's cheeks. Her hands moved to her face and covered her eyes, hiding her shame. She squeezed her eyes shut tightly, seeing stars on her eyelids. She nodded her head jerkily, confirming what the seasoned nurse already knew.

"Oh, sweetheart," Tali whispered in shock, resting her hand on top of one of Eon's. "Oh, darling."

"More...than one," Mama Nina stated, looking close at Eon.

"It was only h-her," Eon whimpered. "Just...more than one time. T-twice, I think." Tali translated it to Mama Nina, who was having trouble understanding her.

"Don't-worry," the elderly lady said. She gave Eon a crinkly smile. "Mama Nina-help."

* * *

><p>"Mister Alcazar?" Tali asked hesitantly, knocking on the door to his office.<p>

"Come in," Barry called.

Tali entered. "Where's Mister Alcazar, sir?" she asked, looking around the room with a small frown.

"He's with th' boy," Shake responded, taking a drag from his cigar. "What can we help ye with?"

"I just came to give the medical report for Ms. Reid, sir," she informed them, holding up a paper-clipped stack of paper and waving it slightly. "Should I just leave it on his desk or will he be back soon?"

"You can just tell us," Lee said. "We'll hear it eventually."

Tali hesitated before nodding, closing the door behind her. "The major wounds have all been cleaned and bandaged, sir," she reported. "The stab wound on her side is starting to get infected, but we've cleaned it as well as we could. There are a few broken bones-two rib-bones and her wrist-but they're healing straight. No complications with those."

"Thanks," Barry said, taking the papers from her and flipping through it. "You can have the rest of the day off."

As Tali started to walk back towards the door, she hesitated.

"Is there something else, Tali?" Lee asked, noticing it.

"Um, yes, sir," she said haltingly. "I believe that there should be someone watching her to, um..." She swallowed. "Make sure she doesn't kill herself." That was certainly the last thing that the men had expected her to say.

"Putt'n 'er on suicide watch," Shake clarified. Tali silently confirmed.

"And why, exactly, do you say that?" Barry questioned, sitting on the edge of the desk.

"There were scars on her thighs that Ms. Reid admitted she did herself," Tali explained. "And one of the wounds...someone repeatedly raped her while she was being held captive. If there was any chance that she would try to harm or kill herself, it would definitely be now." The last two sentences came out as a rush, and she held her breath after she was done.

"Just take all of the sharp things in the room," Barry said almost flippantly.

Lee glared at him and shoved him off the desk. "Cutting's not the only way to kill yourself, asshat."

"I can just watch her myself, sir," Tali said hurriedly, "I don't have much to do, but I just thought that I should report it since it's, well, my job." She tried to excuse herself and make a break for the door.

"No, no," Barry said tersely, stopping her yet again from trying to leave the room. She whimpered a curse under her breath, turning back around. "Don't go yet. And you did the right thing by telling us."

"This is so fuckin' weird," Shake growled, tossing his head from side to side.

Lee asked, "Did you run a rape kit? When we give 'em over to the police, they'd prob'ly like to find the rapist."

"You're actually thinking about taking her to the police?" Barry said in disbelief. "Uh, do you not remember how they threatened to torture us to death if we ever set foot back into their jurisdiction?"

"Well, what the hell else are we gonna do?" Lee snarled. "They needa get home! Did you not hear how the US AND the Swedish government are lookin' for 'em?"

"The more reason for us not to give them over!" the other argued.

"Welp!" Lee said loudly, throwing up his hands. "It's either hand 'em over or kill 'em behind the sheds!

"I don' kno' 'bout you two," Shake cut it. "But I draw th' line at killin' lil' children who did nuffing get nabbed."

Tali cut in, her voice high-pitched. "You are all actually considering killing innocent girl?"

She towered over them, her eyes flashing from timid and sweet to murderous and deadly. The expression on her face could make the gods of war envious. Okay, so she'd never admit it, but maybe Mama Nina had rubbed a bit too much off on her.

"Calm down," Barry said the enraged girl.

"You will listen to me good, you stupid son-of-a-beetch!" she argued, her accent coming out more strongly. "You can leave them at the doorstep of the hospital, or ship them back to America! People do not even need to see you-hell, you can use your private plane! No one has to see or know you were there. I can even take them down to the station right now!"

"Shh, we're not gonna kill them," Lee said, reaching out for her. "It was just a suggestion."

"Oh." Tali's whole face went red. "Oh my-I'm so sorry!" Before the others could stop her this time, she ran out of the room, screaming out of embarrassment.

Lee laughed shortly. "I always thought she was too calm to work with us."

They all went back to their separate tasks, working on different pieces of paperwork and the like. After a half an hour or so, there was a knock on the door. At Shake's grunt of acknowledgement, a young man popped his head in.

"Sirs," he said politely in Portuguese. "There's a woman here who wants to talk to you."

"Send 'er in," Shake said, trying to make himself look slightly presentable.

A young girl walked in. She was well-muscled, and had brown hair. She wore a black pencil-skirt, which accentuated her long legs and elegant curves. In her calloused hand was a briefcase, and there was a few bruises on her neck and face.

She smiled professionally and sat down in the seat offered to her. "Alcazar's mercenaries, I presume?" she asked smoothly.

"At your service," Lee said, smiling charmingly. "And who are you, miss...?"

"Gregorovich." She smiled again, this time with a hint of malice in her eyes. "Melanie Gregorovich."

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><p>As usual, review :D even if it just says 'it's good' o pretty please!<p> 


	14. Chapter 14

*crawls up from the whole she's been under* Gasp! Sunlight, with no tests in sight! I'm free! Relief!

I swear, school is evil. It enjoys taking up all of your free time and then some :T I've been busy for so long that I haven't had time to update this. I still should be technically doing two projects, but I said 'screw it' and wrote this instead hahaha

**XpurplemacaroniX**: Ahh! *glomps* Thank you for the reviewww(: I'll make sure to check out ur story when I can ^^

And thanks to **krystalrousell **and **Melanie-Baker **for reviewing as well :D *blows kisses to both of you* you're both amazing~

Same goes to all of you who favored this!

I LOVE YOU!

* * *

><p>Eon stared out the window, eyes unfocused and body tense. Josh had long since called it a night, and was sleeping in Aleixio's room. A guard stood outside her door-a very reluctant Shake-but besides that, she was alone.<p>

She shuddered, bringing a bandaged hand up over her fluttering heart. She felt...dirty. Like she hadn't taken a bath in a week. But she knew that wasn't the truth; Tali had helped her bathe less than three hours ago.

The feeling was overwhelming. So overwhelming that Eon actually reached out to press the button on her bed that would call Tali into the room. Her conscious stopped her at the last second. It wouldn't be fair to wake Tali up just because she wanted to take a shower, even though her skin was begging her to.

A sob choked her, and she brought her knees up to her chest, trying to keep away the memories. They created a horrible throbbing, and she rubbed the sides of her head, trying to relieve the pressure that seemed to want to rip her head off.

"Aw, does my little sex kitty have a headache?"

A strip of fabric came out of nowhere and wrapped around Eon's mouth, stopping her scream in her throat. She thrashed blindly at her attacker, but hands had her wrists in a death grip and knees were pinned on either side of her thighs, effectively keeping her trapped to the bed.

Eon's eyes darted desperately, taking in the now-open window, the locked door, and the familiar woman straddling her chest.

Melanie moved with surprising speed, pulling out a syringe of clear liquid. She squirted some of it out to get rid of any air bubbles and then jammed it into Eon's arm. The girl cried out as the syringe was emptied out into her body. When the attacker was done, she threw the syringe carelessly onto the ground.

Melanie gave her a lecherous grin, licking Eon's cheek. "I'll make it allll better," she cooed, switching both of Eon's wrists into one hand.

Adrenaline fueled Eon's struggling, and she wrenched one of her wrists free from Melanie's grip. Her hand flew on its own and punched Melanie's cheek, reopening one of the larger cuts from her previous fight with Mykaela. She cursed loudly and let go of Eon's other wrist, nursing her bleeding face.

Leaping on the chance, Eon shoved her attacker away and clumsily tumbled out of the bed. The blanket tangled her legs, making her head slam into the floor before she could stop herself. Eon cried out in pain, stars dancing behind her eyes.

Whatever Melanie had given her must have started to take effect, because it was becoming increasingly difficult to think clearly or make her limbs move in the way she wanted them to. Everything was looking fuzzy and doubled, making it even harder to concentrate.

Through Eon's hazy mind, though, she heard someone banging and yelling from behind the door, and desperately tried to drag herself towards it.

Melanie slammed her hiking boot down with all her force onto Eon's thin ankle. Through the gag, she screamed at the top of her lungs, which ended in pained cries.

"You really think you can get away from me?" Melanie roared, pushing down harder on Eon's ankle. "Huh?" Eon screamed again as the pressure increased again. "Well, you can't! You should just give up while your ahead, fucker! Because _you. Are. MINE!_"

There was a disgusting, wet crunch, and Eon's ankle erupted in an even greater pain than she thought possible. It hurt too much for her too even emit a sound, and her whole body was wracked with shudders and spasming.

The door was starting to splinter from the force of Shake's kicks. Melanie knew that it wouldn't last much longer. _Gotta get outta here fast._

She hauled the semi-conscious form into one arm, and lunged towards the window just as the door finally gave way. As soon as Shake saw Melanie fleeing, he whipped out his gun and shot her with deadly accuracy.

Melanie screamed as the bullet went whizzing through her left thigh, tearing through muscle and ligaments like a hot knife through butter. Blood flew out, splattering against the walls and floor. She fell forward on top of Eon, making the air whoosh out of the smaller girl's lungs. Eon whimpered-the agony her ankle was causing her, mixed with the drugs from Melanie, made it impossible for her to move.

Shake rushed forward and kicked Melanie off of Eon with his steel-toed boot. Tali, who had heard the commotion, had come rushing in and was trying to wake Eon up while Shake kept Melanie down.

"Eon? Eon!" Tali yelled, slapping the girl on the cheek to get her attention. "Can you hear me? I need you to tell me where it hurts."

"_An...ankel..._" Eon managed to utter in Swedish, eyelashes fluttering. "_Spruta..."_ (syringe)

Tali didn't understand the last word, but was struck with realization when she saw the syringe laying on the ground, gleaming in the moonlight. She cursed loudly as she hauled Eon up with surprising strength and carried her into another room, shouting for Mama Nina.

"Ye gotta lotta nerve ta show oop here, _Miss Gregorovich_," Shake spat, his forearm tightly pressed up against Melanie's neck. "Ah knew there was somethin' off with ye when ya came this afternoon."

Melanie spat in his face in response. "You asshole," she snarled. "Give me back Eon. She's mine!"

"Ah think ye should shut the hell up before I decide to cut yer throat right here 'nstead o' given ye to Aleixio," Shake growled, yanking her up onto her feet. He felt grim satisfaction when she screamed in pain as pressure was applied to her bleeding thigh.

Shake dragged her roughly down the hallway to where he would have the pleasure of torturing Melanie until her last breath. She really should have just pressed his buttons to get a quick and easy death.

* * *

><p>Josh was a nervous wreck after the attack. He refused to leave Eon's side for longer than a few minutes. When Aleixio tried to coax him away from the abused girl, Josh had practically bitten his hand off. Aleixio reluctantly gave up, but made sure to make it obvious that he was willing to hang out with the teenager.<p>

Tali and Mama Nina managed to get poison Melanie had given Eon out just in time. In broken English Mama Nina had cheerfully told Eon that she would have died if it wasn't for her and her assistant. Her harsh wording made Tali and Josh uncomfortable, but surprisingly, not Eon.

Not her at all.

She was nearly catatonic, and nothing they said or did could get her to react. She refused to look anyone in the eye or eat more than a mouthful of food. Eon did accept small amounts of water, but that was it. As a last resort Mama Nina, in fear that the young girl would end up dying of malnourishment, had put her on a drip. Like everything else, she was indifferent to what they did to her.

And it was pushing Josh over the edge.

He felt so helpless as he tried to get Eon to respond to him in any way. He had asked her if she was feeling well, and she had simply stared at her hands silently.

Josh jerked forward and grabbed her hand. Eon flinched slightly, but her lifeless eyes didn't move.

"Please, Eon," he begged her. "You have to say something, even just 'what.' You're freaking killing me."

The second to last word that left his mouth seemed to crack through the barrier Eon had around herself. She took a long, shuddering gasp and shoved Josh away from her. He wasn't expecting such a sudden move, and barely caught himself from falling onto the ground.

"Eon-"

His voice trailed off as she cowered into the corner of the bed. Her hair hid her face, and she clutched her shoulders in a death grip. A babbled, nonstop stream of Swedish came pouring out of her mouth, and didn't seem to have an end in sight.

Josh gathered his nerves and reached a hand to touch Eon's foot. Before his fingertips had even grazed the blanket, the girl's eyes flew open. They were filled with nothing but pure, unadulterated fear. She screamed at the top of her lungs something in Swedish.

"Calm down-" Josh tried to say around her screaming, but she just scrambled farther away from him and screamed loudly.

Mama Nina and Aleixio, who had been talking in the hallway, entered the room. Mama Nina was at Eon's side in seconds, trying to stop her screaming and fear. Aleixio put a soothing arm around Josh's waist, shepherding him out of the room.

"What happened?" Aleixio asked when they entered his room.

"I dunno!" Josh yelled, pacing restlessly around the small room. Aleixio gestured for him to sit down on the bed, but Josh shook his head rapidly. "I can't sit down right now. She just started freaking out, and when I tried to grab her hand, she started screaming her head off! Oh God, it's because I said the word 'kill,' isn't it? It's all my fault."

Aleixio started uncomfortably when he realized that Josh was beginning to cry out of frustration. He teenager kept running his hair roughly through his hair, as if he wanted to rip it out by the roots. He ran a long hand over his face-he never got a break.

Aleixio stopped Josh from pacing by grabbing his wrist and jerking him forward. The teen yelped and sat up on the bed, looking at the older man with a mixture of indignation and confusion.

"What the hell was that for?" he yelled at Aleixio.

"I was getting tired of seeing you walking around," Aleixio shrugged. "You will wear a whole into my floor." Josh grumbled about how all foreigners were off their rockers as he bit back a very unmanly sob.

"Stop crying," Aleixio responded, lighting a cigarette.

"I _can cry all I fucking want_!" Josh screamed, rubbing his eyes harshly.

Aleixio raised an eyebrow at the response. He was expecting the cliched 'I'm not crying' or 'you idiot, I'm not!' Basically anything besides Josh actually admitting it. It made him less sure of what to do.

"Not in front of a stranger!" he said with a bit of panic. _Is he crying harder?_

"I can't cry with people I know because you won't let me go home and Eon's a mess!" Josh wailed, snot starting to run down from his nose.

"Then I do not know!" Aleixio yelled. His cigarette came tumbled out of his mouth and onto his shirt, embers glowing bright. He cursed loudly in his native tongue while he brushed the offending object off, Josh bawling his eyes out the whole time.

"Screw it!" Aleixio muttered, and pulled Josh into a tight hug.

"Lemme go!" Josh wailed, fighting against him.

Well, at least for a second. He gave up after he tested Aleixio's steel-like grip that was somehow...gentle. _The hell?_

"You've been in the jungle with men too long!" Josh babbled. "Manly men! You've probably turned into the mean man whore in movies who hits on everything that moves because you need protection or just the comfort of someone else to hold at night!"

"What is wrong with you, boy?" Aleixio yelled. "I just want you to stop snotting all over my room and whining."

"Liar," Josh cried, punching Aleixio's shoulder and moving closer to him. Aleixio huffed and started uttering things in Portuguese as he awkwardly patted Josh's back, waiting for the other to stop crying.

After awhile-waaaay too long for Aleixio's liking-Josh finally stopped crying. He froze for a second before slowly pulling away slightly so he couldn't look at Aleixio's face. Josh's eyes were puffy from crying, and his face was practically on fire.

"Done?" the bigger man asked, finishing off what was left of his cigarette. Josh said something unintelligible, which Aleixio decided to be an affirmative.

"Awww, but that was so cute," a voice drawled from behind Aleixio.

The man's eyes widened comically. "No," he said loudly.

"Oh, yes," Lee giggled gleefully, putting his phone back into his pocket. Barry was pinching the bridge of his nose, biting his bottom lip to stop from bursting out in laughter at his friend's humiliation.

"You will never speak of what you saw," Aleixio demanded, putting on his best 'I'm-your-boss-so-you-will-listen-to-what-I'm-telling-you-to-do-goddammit' voice.

"Of course not," Lee said innocently, putting a hand up to his chest. "I don't have to say anything. I just have to show the pictures. They're worth a thousand words, you know." He barely dodged the knife that was sent whizzing past his head. He flipped Aleixio off before strolling away.

"So," Barry said when he figured Aleixio had had enough time to cool down. "About that _thing_...?" He purposefully stopped and glanced over at Josh. Aleixio understood.

"Have they answered yet?" Aleixio asked, immediately going into his professional mode.

"I wouldn't be bringing it up if they hadn't," Barry responded, looking out the window. "They want to set a time."

"Time for what?" Josh cut in, tilting his head to the side in confusion.

Barry and Aleixio shared an uneasy glance.

"I will tell you later, yes?" Aleixio said as he made his way to the doorway. He patted Josh on the top of his head absently. "Go check on Miss Reid, or help Mama Nina or...just something. I have work to do."

Josh scowled as they exited the room, murmuring to each other in low voices.

* * *

><p>At exactly seven in the morning, an email was sent to the BAU. They had tried to have Garcia trace it, but whoever had sent it had expertly hidden themselves. An emergency meeting was called, and the BAU team-minus Reid-sat in a meeting room, brooding over the printed out message.<p>

"We have to call Reid back," Prentiss said, rereading her copy.

Morgan cut in, "I thought we weren't letting him back on this case. You know how much of a workaholic he is-if he knows we'll cave so easily, he'll never listen to us again when he kick him off one."

"That isn't much of an issue at the moment," Rossi objected.

"But then we don't even know if he's mentally stable enough to negotiate," JJ said. "He might completely ruin the whole mission."

"We'll just have to trust in his capability to perform under stress," Hotchner said as he pulled out his phone. "Garcia. Prepare the jet and call Reid. Tell him he's back on the case."

"_We're...actually going to meet the ransom demands, sir_?" she asked in surprise.

"There's not much of a choice, unless we want the hostages to be killed," he responded with more bitterness than necessary. He regretted it as soon as it left his mouth, but he knew that Garcia would understand the stress he was going through.

"_Yes, sir," _she responded smoothly. Penelope disconnected the call, and hurriedly called Reid.

The genius picked up on the second ring. His voice was high-pitched and worried, making Garcia's heart ache for him. "_Have you found her yet_?" he asked desperately.

"Not exactly—" she began.

"_Not exactly_?" She could hear the frown in his weary voice. "_Don't speak in riddles, or dance around the topic, Penelope. Please. You either know where she is or you don't._"

Garcia groaned and then explained the whole situation to him. He listened without saying a word, or even acknowledging he had heard what she was saying.

"Are you still there?" she asked, unsure if he had hung up or not.

"_When does the flight leave_?" he asked, and Garcia was shocked at his voice. It was something that she had never heard in him before—utter helplessness.

"Baby, are you crying?" she asked, putting her hands down on her desk.

"_It doesn't matter_," he said dully. Garcia heard the shifting of clothes, and figured he was grabbing his go-bag.

"Yes, it does," she argued tenderly. She herself was also leaving the office, determined to give her boy genius a hug before he left again. "You need someone to talk to, and I'm all ears."

Hotch's words resurfaced in Reid's mind. "_He can't talk to a girl without stuttering, and each time there's more than two strangers in a room he starts listing off data like a robot. Don't tell him, but it drives the team absolutely insane." _

And then his thoughts were whipped back to a conversation he had heard months before, but had repressed. "_…I can't stand how he's always just 'blah, blah, blah' about work_!" Garcia had whined to Morgan. "_He's just so annoying and—"_

"Sweetie?" Garcia's voice broke through. "Spencer?"

"Honestly, Garcia?" Reid said, not caring if he hurt her feelings. "You're the last person I want to talk to right now."

He hung up before she could say anything else.

Meanwhile, with the rest of the BAU team, Dmitri entered the room with his phone in his hand.

"Two people should be here with the money within four hours," he announced, his jaw set tightly. "Tell the kidnappers that it will be in kronas, not American money, but it will be the same about."

As they left the hospital conference room to get to work, one sheet was left on the polished surface of the table. The paper was crinkled, and had two translations: one English, the other in Swedish.

_BAU team-_

_We have found the two people you have been looking for, Eon and Josh. Unless you want them to be sent back to you in body bags, we suggest you listen to our demands._

_1,000,000 American dollars shall be the price for their lives. Any less will not be tolerated, and will result in their lives being ended in a more tortuous manner for each dollar lost. As long as the amount is still the same, different currencies will be allowed._

_Only one person will be there to make the exchange. It can only be Supervisory Special Agent Spencer Reid, and no one else. He cannot carry any type of weapon or device which will allow him to communicate with the rest of you. If anyone else is found, they will be shot on sight without hesitation. _

_You have 12 hours to respond. If you do not, we will consider this as you saying you refuse to exchange, and will kill the hostages. The time and place will be given to you as soon as you agree to our terms._

_Choose wisely._

-_Unknown_

The letter was short and to the point, exactly the way Aleixio had ordered Lee to write the note. With the word choices of Barry, Aleixio had deemed it good and allowed Lee to send it to Hotch's team.

"What do they say?" Aleixio asked, running an absent hand across his neck.

"They agree, of course," Lee responded, typing rapidly on his keyboard. "Didya really think they wouldn't?"

"Does not matter," Aleixio shook it off, unwilling to admit that yes, he hadn't. "Give them the address and time. And don't mess it up this time," he added warningly.

Lee shifted uncomfortably as Barry snickered. "It was one time!" he said defensively. "And it all turned out fine, didn't it? We got 2.5 million and a yacht. If you wanna give people shit about that, then give it to Shake for wanting a random yacht."

Barry was about to turn around and do just that but was interrupted by the fact that he was gone. "Where'd that lunk of Scottish idiocracy go?"

"He is still in the basement," Aleixio responded. "With the one who attacked the girl."

Barry raised an eyebrow. "_Still_? It's been over five hours. I don't even know he had enough creepy torture methods to keep going for that long."

Lee replied flippantly, "Eh. He's creative. And you get to see his creativity when you go down and get him." Barry choked on his coffee, his mouth hanging open at the smirking tech wizard.

"You're insane if you think I'm gonna go down there with him and a chainsaw!" he exclaimed. "The last time I did I nearly had my arm cut off because-and I QUOTE-'you were in the way.'"

"Exactly why _you're _going," Lee answered cheerily. "You're the only one here who doesn't need both their arms. I need my arms to type out codes."

"I am your boss," was all the explanation Aleixio needed.

"Two against one, majority wins," the tech responded cheerily, interrupting Barry before he could argue. He spun his chair back around and went back to formulating a response for the waiting BAU team.

Barry grumbled about how he hated democracy and flung the door open. He froze at the unmanly squeak he heard and looked down into the wide eyes of Josh. He turned around and fixed Aleixio with a 'have fun' grin as he left quickly.

Josh gulped in the silence. "So. You're ransoming us?"

Aleixio cleared his throat. "If you sit down, I will explain," he offered.

Josh fixed him with a tight smile. "No, I think I'll stand," he said with forced jovility.

Lee grimaced and started to sit up, but Aleixio pushed him back down into the seat without looking. "Then at least close the door," he said. "This conversation is private."

Josh complied and closed the door. He crossed his arms and fixed Aleixio with an expectant glare. "I'm waiting."

Aleixio ran a hand through his hair. "We have…appearances to keep up," he tried to explained. "We cannot simply give things to the FBI, even if it is morally right."

Josh didn't respond, fingernails digging into his arms. "So you're ransoming off those _things_ to them," he responded, his voice still disturbingly calm.

_Fuck. Wrong word choice._

"I meant to say—"

"No, no," Josh said, holding up his hands. "I get it." He smiled icilly. "You can't just leave two traumatized kids alone. No, that's too _logical._ You have to put them even through more shit."

"I think it's time for me to go anywhere but here," Lee tried to say, moving towards the door.

"SIDDOWN!" they both screamed at him.

Lee blanched and sat down right on the floor, looking up at the two while sucking in his lips like a chastised little kid.

"Josh—" Aleixio tried again, but Josh stopped him easily with a simple raise of his index finger.

"If you'll excuse me," he said. "I'm going to go see if Eon's not catatonic anymore." He opened the door before closing it behind them.

"…Can I get up now?" Lee asked.

* * *

><p>The next part's ready and waiting in my mind to be written. It should be up within the week, I pwomise!<p>

As usual, review and favorite, it means the world to me :x

Now...on to procrastinating...XD


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